Conservation of repeated DNA sequences in aneuploid human tumor cells.

A series of human neuroectodermal tumors, all containing more than the normal diploid DNA, and each with its own distinct chromosome mode, were studied using restriction enzyme cleavage and specific DNA sequence hybridization. Methods described were quite sensitive and quantitative and as few as 40 molecules with a given restriction site were reproducibly detected in total nuclear DNA. Analysis of several fluorescent gel bands associated with different chromosomal domains revealed no changes between any of the tumor and normal cells. Specific probe hybridization, using purified complex repeating sequences, indicated fidelity of base sequence, as well as preservation of the relative amounts of each of a number of minor related multimers in both the tumor and normal cells. Centromeric regions containing arrays of such sequences may be maintained in these tumor cells and furthermore it is possible that some of these cells are polyploid with respect to DNA sequences, rather than aneuploid as their chromosome profiles suggest.