Clonal origin of trisomy for chromosome 7 in the epithelial compartment of colon neoplasia.

In this study, we demonstrated the clonal origin of trisomy for chromosome 7 in epithelial cells of colon neoplasia. By using the double-target fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) technique in frozen tissue sections that were also immunostained for keratin and vimentin, ratio analysis of FISH signals for chromosomes 7 and 17 could be performed in epithelial (cytokeratin-positive) or stromal (vimentin-positive) areas. The data demonstrated that trisomy for chromosome 7 is found exclusively in the epithelial compartments and not in the stroma of colon adenocarcinoma. We then demonstrated the occurrence of trisomy for chromosome 7 in the different types of epithelial neoplastic cells, i.e., columnar and goblet cells, which were isolated from frozen tissue sections by mechanical disaggregation of colon tissue and mild lysis of the cells while protease activity was inhibited. In these cell suspensions, the columnar cells were detected with an antibody to villin, and the goblet cells were stained for mucin, whereas all cells were subsequently subjected to FISH for chromosome 7. For analysis of neuroendocrine cells, which are present in a very low frequency in colon neoplasia, frozen tissue sections that were immunostained for Chromogranin A could be used. Individual neuroendocrine cells could be distinguished in these thin frozen tissue sections. The presence of trisomy for chromosome 7 in all three different epithelial cell types strengthens our suggestion that this chromosomal aberration is found in the epithelial stem cell compartment of colon neoplasia.