Targeted cytogenetic analysis of gastric tumors by in situ hybridization with a set of chromosome-specific DNA probes.

Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) with biotinated chromosome-specific repetitive DNA probes was used for the cytogenetic study of ten gastric adenocarcinomas. All tumors (eight male, two female patients) were histologically moderately or poorly differentiated and nine of ten had metastasized to regional lymph nodes. The authors applied a set of satellite DNA probes, specific for chromosomes 1, 7, 17, X, and Y in order to detect numerical chromosome aberrations in freshly isolated tumor cell nuclei. Normal diploid human lymphocyte nuclei and, in a number of cases, normal gastric mucosa served as controls. Parallel with the hybridization experiments DNA flow cytometric study of acridine orange (AO)-stained tumor cells was carried out. By means of FISH the authors found seven cases to be aneuploid, the other three cases appeared diploid. This was confirmed by DNA flow cytometric analysis with AO. Furthermore, loss of the Y chromosome in a high percentage of cells was seen by FISH in six of eight tumors from male patients. In the other two male samples a possible loss was observed in a small proportion of cells (15%). In three patients from whom the authors had normal gastric mucosa the Y loss was restricted to the tumor cells. These data indicate that in situ hybridization with chromosome-specific repetitive DNA probes can serve as a cytogenetic tool for the analysis of interphase nuclei of solid human tumors, at least with respect to the detection of numerical chromosome abnormalities.