Chromosome abnormalities in malignant melanoma: clinical significance of nonrandom chromosome abnormalities in 206 cases

We report the cytogenetic abnormalities from a series of 206 primary malign ant melanoma specimens referred to a single institution. A total of 169 out of 206 unique cases had chromosome breakpoints, A previously described sta tistical method was used to detect nonrandom distribution of chromosome bre akpoints at the level of chromosome regions. Nonrandom occurrence of chromo some breakpoints (indicating that the observed number of breaks significant ly exceeded the expected number of breaks) was detected in 28 regions, sugg esting a hierarchy of genetic abnormalities in melanoma. Clinical variables and tumor characteristics were analyzed for associations with the presence of any nonrandom chromosome breakpoints; with individual, nonrandomly invo lved chromosome regions; and with paired, nonrandomly involved chromosome r egions. No nonrandomly involved chromosome regions or pairs of regions appe ared to significantly affect survival. These results identify recurring, no nrandom chromosome abnormalities in malignant melanoma. These results sugge st that recurring, nonrandom chromosome alterations play a key role in the etiology and/or progression of malignant melanoma and identify targets with in the genome for molecular genetic studies. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.