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Primary small‐cell lung carcinomas and their metastases are characterized by a recurrent pattern of genetic alterations
Author(s) -
Schwendel Anke,
Langreck Holger,
Reichel Martin,
Schröck Evelin,
Ried Thomas,
Dietel Manfred,
Petersen Iver
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0215(19970220)74:1<86::aid-ijc15>3.0.co;2-g
Subject(s) - malignancy , primary tumor , biology , pathology , phenotype , comparative genomic hybridization , lung , metastasis , lung cancer , cancer , carcinoma , tumor progression , cancer research , medicine , chromosome , gene , genetics
Small‐cell lung cancer (SCLC) represents a group of highly malignant tumors giving rise to early and widespread metastases. We used comparative genomic hybridization in autoptic tumor specimens from 10 patients to discover genetic alterations that are associated with tumor progression and potentially with the metastatic phenotype. Ten primary SCLC and 16 corresponding metastases were investigated with a maximum of 4 tumors per case. Prevalent changes observed in more than 60% of the primary tumors and their metastases included deletions on chromosomes 3p, 4q, 5q, 10q, 13q and 17p, and DNA over‐representations on chromosomes 3q and 5p. The number of common alterations in the primary tumors and the related metastases outnumbered the differences, indicating a clonal relationship. Within the lesions of the same patient, differences were found between the primary tumor and the metastases as well as between metastases of distinct organ sites. However, no specific alteration was significantly associated with the metastatic phenotype. We suggest that the high malignancy of SCLC is defined by the above‐mentioned pattern of aberrations. Int. J. Cancer 74:86–93. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.