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Extra copies of c‐ myc are more pronounced in nodular melanomas than in superficial spreading melanomas as revealed by fluorescence in situ hybridisation
Author(s) -
Treszl Andrea,
Ádány Róza,
Rákosy Zsuzsa,
Kardos László,
Bégány Ágnes,
Gilde Katalin,
Balázs Margit
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
cytometry part b: clinical cytometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.646
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1552-4957
pISSN - 1552-4949
DOI - 10.1002/cyto.b.20016
Subject(s) - melanoma , biology , gene duplication , in situ hybridisation , fluorescence in situ hybridization , pathology , superficial spreading melanoma , gene dosage , ploidy , cancer research , gene , medicine , chromosome , gene expression , genetics
Background Amplification of c‐ myc is a common genetic alteration and associated with a poor prognosis in a variety of cancers. Extra copies of the gene have been found in large numbers of melanoma metastases, but only few primary tumours have been studied. We investigated the c‐ myc copy number alterations in two different subtypes of primary melanomas with different biological behaviours. Methods Fluorescence in situ hybridisation was performed using c‐ myc and centromeric 8 (C8) probes on 68 lesions (28 nodular melanomas [NMs], 26 superficial spreading melanomas [SSMs], and 14 metastases). To assess the ploidy pattern, copy number distribution of seven different chromosomes was also investigated. Results All tumours showed aneuploid populations for at least three chromosomes. Whereas 61% of the NMs exhibited extra c‐ myc copies, only 27% of SSMs showed increased gene dosage. The c‐ myc /C8 ratio exceeding 1.5 was significantly higher in NMs ( P = 0.01). High level amplification was seen only in NMs. An elevated c‐ myc /C8 ratio was higher than 1.5 in only four metastases. Conclusion Our data show that c‐ myc copy number alterations differ in the two melanoma subtypes and are associated with the advanced stage of the disease. The less frequent amplification of the c‐ myc gene in metastatic lesions indicates that it may play an important role in the development of an invasive potential rather than in the metastatic process. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.