Three rare mosaic unbalanced structural rearrangements found in routine per
ipheral blood analysis were confirmed in buccal mucosal cells using interph
ase FISH. Case 1 had a de novo mosaic triplication for 13q22q33 found in 22
.5 % lymphocytes. D13S585 probe that maps to 13q32q33 confirmed the mosaici
sm in 41 % of buccal mucosal cells. Case 2 had additional material on a 3q
derived from 14q31qter in 83 % of lymphocytes. The 14q-subtelomeric probe w
as used on buccal smear cells: 86 % had three signals and 14 % had two sign
als. Case 3 was a mosaic de novo add(5) in 32 % lymphocytes. The additional
material was from 3p26pter. The 3p-subtelomere probe confirmed the mosaici
sm in 40 % buccal epithelial cells. This study shows the applicability of i
nterphase FISH to confirm mosaic unbalanced rearrangements in a second tiss
ue such as buccal mucosal cells. (C) 2001 Editions scientifiques et medical
es Elsevier SAS.