Occurrence and expansion of trisomy 7 in a fibroblast strain from a centenarian individual

We describe the presence of metaphases with non-random gain of one or two c hromosomes in a skin fibroblast strain derived from a centenarian individua l. The extra elements were chromosomes 7, X, and 18, and, among these, the most frequent was a 7. During in vitro propagation +7 cells seemed to be st able and overrode the diploid ones. After prolonged growth in culture, the cell population displayed the typical senescence signs. Our findings confir m the proneness to aneuploidy in cells from aged individuals and indicate t hat, while the presence of a trisomic 7 may confer a selective advantage to cells grown in vitro, it does not seem to prevent cellular senescence. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.