Further evidence for nonrandom chromosome changes in carcinoma cells--a report of 28 cases.

A cytogenetic study was made of pleural and ascitic effusions from 28 carcinoma patients. Gross chromosome abnormalities were observed in each case. A selection against heteroploid cells occurred generally in long-term cell cultures. Although no further evidence for the existence of primary specific chromosome abnormalities was found in this study, we postulate three types of chromosome abnormalities in carcinoma cells: (a) primary, specific chromosome changes; (b) secondary, but nonrandom, chromosome changes; and (c) random chromosome changes. We feel that it may be a feature of the secondary changes to cause high mitotic instability, which leads to further karyotype variability, new changes of type b and c, and an increased potential for malignancy.