Chromosome aberrations in metastatic ovarian cancer: relationship with abnormalities in primary tumors.

Twenty malignant effusions secondary to ovarian cancer have been cytogenetically analyzed directly and after short in vitro culture. With the exception of one sample characterized by trisomy 3, all cases displayed clonal structural rearrangements. Chromosomes 1 and 3 were most frequently involved in the genesis of markers. Abnormalities of chromosomes 5, 6, 9, 11 and 12 were also recurrently found, and double minutes (DM) were observed in 2 samples. Our results agree with previous findings on the preferential involvement of chromosomes 1, 3 and 6 in ovarian carcinomas, and suggest that rearrangements of certain chromosomes are non-random but are secondary to the malignant progression of these tumors.