Comparison of cytogenetics, cytokine secretion, and oncogene expression in primary cultures of renal carcinoma cells.

We compared the cytogenetic pattern of 20 different primary tumor cell cultures (PTCC) of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) to their cytokine secretion and oncogene expression. High secretion of IL-6 (gene locus on chromosome 7p21-p14) was correlated with the gain of an additional chromosome 7. Structural changes involving chromosome 5q22, the site of the GM-CSF gene, were matched with the high secretion of GM-CSF in PTCC. No such association was found for beta 2-microglobulin, TGF-beta 1, TNF-alpha, IL-8, and oncogenes, such as c-fos, c-myc, and pan-ras. Our approach may be useful in simultaneously analyzing several factors contributing to tumor progression and may contribute to understanding the multistep development of RCC.