Detection of recurrent chromosome abnormalities in Ewing's sarcoma and peripheral neuroectodermal tumor cells using bivariate flow karyotyping.

Bivariate flow karyotyping can be used for the detection of recurrent chromosome abnormalities in tumor cells. For this purpose 2 cell lines originally derived from Ewing's sarcomas and 4 cell lines from peripheral neuroectodermal tumors were used. The characteristic t(11;22) was known to be present in 5 cell lines. The remaining cell line was known to have a variant t(2;11;22;21) translocation. Metaphase chromosomes were stained with the fluorescent dyes Hoechst 33258 and Chromomycin A3 and analyzed subsequently using bivariate flow cytometry. The resulting bivariate flow karyotypes of the tumor cells were normalized by a standardized procedure using a computerized method and compared with a reference flow karyotype of normal chromosomes. In 5 cell lines two recurring abnormal chromosome peaks were identified at positions expected for the der(11) and der(22) chromosomes characteristic for the reciprocal t(11;22)(q24;q12). In the remaining cell line with the variant t(2;11;22;21), only the peak representing the der(22) was identifiable. It is concluded that bivariate flow karyotyping can be used for the semiautomated detection of recurrent translocations and the assessment of their variability among different tumors.