Characterization of chromosomal abnormalities in prostate cancer cell lines by spectral karyotyping

Human prostate cancer is characterized by multiple gross chromosome alterat ions involving several chromosome regions. However, the specific genes invo lved in the development of prostate tumors are still largely unknown. Here we have studied the chromosome composition of the three established prostat e cancer cell lines, LNCaP, PC-3, and DU145, by spectral karyotyping (SKY). SKY analysis showed complex karyotypes for all three cell lines, with 87, 58/113, and 62 chromosomes, respectively. All cell lines were shown to carr y structural alterations of chromosomes 1, 2, 4, 6, 10, 15, and 16; however , no recurrent breakpoints were detected. Compared to previously published findings on these cell lines using comparative genomic hybridization, SKY r evealed several balanced translocations and pinpointed rearrangement breakp oints. The SKY analysis was validated by fluorescence in situ hybridization using chromosome-specific, as well as locus-specific, probes. Identificati on of chromosome alterations in these cell lines by SKY may prove to be hel pful in attempts to clone the genes involved in prostate cancer tumorigenes is. Copyright (C) 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel.