Cytogenetics of tumor cells from patients with nonfamilial renal cell carcinomas.

We analyzed cytogenetically 20 nonfamilial renal cell carcinomas, using a combined method of enzymatic technique and short-term culture with several passages. From 16 of the 20 patients, metaphase cells suitable for analysis were successfully obtained. Fourteen of the 16 patients demonstrated clonal chromosome aberrations which included missing Y chromosome in 8, gain of chromosome 7 in 7, an extra X chromosome in 4, translocation between chromosome 3 and other chromosomes in 4, deletion of the short arm of chromosome 3 in 2 and monosomy 3 in 2. Abnormalities of chromosome 7 and sex chromosomes were only numerical, and those are thought to be related to the neoplastic changes of various malignant tumors. Abnormalities of chromosome 3, however, were not only numerical but also structural, especially in the short arm, and those may be possibly associated with the genesis of renal cell carcinoma.