Constitutive heterochromatin of chromosomes No. 1, 9, and 16 in 90 patients with malignant disease and 91 controls.

The variability of constitutive heterochromatin in chromosomes #1, #9, and #16 was investigated in 90 patients with malignant tumors (neoplasms of the head, neck, breast, and genital organs) and in 91 controls. The investigation was carried out on chromosome preparations from peripheral blood cultures. An analysis showed no significant difference in the frequency of localization variants, that is, inversions, in the patients and in the normal controls. Analysis of the variability of the C-segment size was made by measuring the length of heterochromatin blocks and showed that a correlation with the process of malignant transformation can be sought in the consequences of an uneven distribution (chromosome #1) and in quantitative changes in the constitutive heterochromatin (chromosomes #1 and #9).