Low-grade astrocytoma with a complex four-breakpoint inversion of chromosome 8 as the sole cytogenetic aberration.

We report a case of a low-grade astrocytoma in a 10-year-old boy in which the sole cytogenetic aberration was a complex four-breakpoint inversion of chromosome 8 with the karyotype designation 46,XY,der(8)inv(8)(p23q24)inv(8)(q11q21). Two protooncogenes on chromosome 8, MOS at 8q11 and MYC at 8q24, are located at or near the bands which correspond to two of the breakpoints in this inversion. The localization of the structural aberrations to four breakpoints on chromosome 8 provides a rare example of a solid tumor with structural aberrations limited to a single chromosome.