Cytogenetic analysis of primitive neuroectodermal tumors. Absence of the t(11;22) in two of three cases and a review of the literature.

Cytogenetic analyses on direct and short-term cultures from three peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNET) showed only one tumor with the t(11;22)(q24;q12), a translocation reported as characteristic of this tumor type. A second tumor contained rearrangements including apparent deletions of chromosomes 11 and 22 between bands 11q21 and 11qter and between bands 22q11.2 and 22qter, respectively. A third tumor contained two normal copies of 11q but appeared to be monosomic for 22. We consider these findings in light of a survey of the PNET literature.