Analysis of chromosome aberrations in cell lines derived from laryngeal cancer in relation to tumor progression

Abstract

Cell lines provide a good model for studies on molecular and cellular events accompanying neoplastic transformation and cancer progression. The data in recent literature suggest an occurrence of repetitive chromosome aberrations that can be linked with particular stages of cancer. Ten cell lines derived from squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx at the University of Turku were karyotyped. The studied cell lines represented a variety of primary locations of the tumors, TNM staging and histological grading. Karyotyping was done by the classical cytogenetic technique with the application of GTG, QFQ and other banding techniques; some complex aberrations were analyzed by the FISH technique. The results document several numerical and structural aberrations. Attention was focused on the monosomy of chromosomes 13, 17 and 18, frequent deletions of the Y chromosome. Structural aberrations were frequently seen at chromosomes 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 and 11, mostly as deletions (usually deletions of a whole arm), translocations, isochromosomes, duplications and marker chromosomes. The study is in progress and aims to find a correlation between particular aberrations and disease staging. At present, two observations seem to be firm: the amplification of the 11q13 region appeared in tumors with a short survival. However, the primary location of the tumor should be taken into account when considering 11q13 as a prognostic marker. The same is applicable for del(9p), which indicates an early stage of disease. Besides the frequent chromosome aberrations, attention should be paid to marker chromosomes that are potentially specific for laryngeal cancer.