Solid tumors of children: chromosome abnormalities and the development of cancer.

Chromosome abnormalities in five solid tumors which occur predominantly in children and young adults are described. Four of the tumors are associated with rearrangements involving particular chromosome segments: deletion 13q14 in retinoblastoma, deletion 11p13 in Wilms' tumor, deletions/rearrangements of 1p (distal to band 1p31) in neuroblastoma, and translocation 22/autosome in Ewing sarcoma. Though aneuploidy for a number of chromosomes may occur in the fifth tumor, rhabdomyosarcoma, it has yet to be associated with a consistent marker arrangement. A general classification of chromosome abnormalities in cancer is presented. Possible roles for the gene changes produced by each class of chromosome abnormality in the development of cancer are discussed.