Rare clonal karyotypic variants in primary cultures of human breast carcinoma cells.

Cytogenetic analyses were performed on 40 previously untreated primary human breast carcinomas, four untreated breast metastases, nine human breast fibroadenomas, and ten normal human mammary tissues, all in primary culture. The results revealed predominantly normal diploid cells with abnormal clones in two of 40 primary carcinomas and one of four metastases. 3p deletion [del(3)(p14-21)], similar to that associated with small cell lung cancer, was found in a primary tumor from a patient with bilateral breast cancer. In addition, a clone with t(1;4) was found in another primary breast carcinoma, while a t(1;5) clone was found in a metastatic tumor.