Flow cytometric analysis of DNA in bone and soft-tissue tumors using nuclear suspensions.

Ninety-four bone and soft tissue tumors were analyzed for their DNA content using flow cytometry (FCM). A simple, rapid method for preparing isolated nuclear suspensions was used. Tissues, minced in a hypotonic solution containing detergent and propidium iodide as a fluorescent probe for DNA, provided in most instances high nuclear yields from only 0.02 to 0.03 g of solid tumor. Whereas all nonneoplastic samples had a diploid DNA content, various degrees of abnormal DNA distributions were detected in 90% of the neoplastic samples and were present in benign as well as malignant tumors. Our findings demonstrate that FCM DNA analysis is practical in most musculoskeletal tumors and support the observations of others that abnormal DNA content may serve as a general neoplastic marker in these tumors.