Identification of a clustering of chromosomal breakpoints in the analysis of 203 human primary solid tumor non specific karyotypic rearrangements.

The distribution of 271 chromosomal breakpoints involved in 203 clonal structural non "specific" rearrangements identified in 82 human primary solid tumors of various histologies has been analyzed. According to the "mean + 1 SD" criterion the normalized breakpoint frequency was significantly higher for chromosomes 1p, 3p, 3q, 4q, 6q, 7q, and 11p. Clusters of 3 or more breakpoints were assigned to only 24 of the 329 bands (7%) of the standard karyotype, and 9 high density breakpoint segments have been identified. These results indicate that a nonrandom pattern of chromosomal rearrangements can be extracted from the complex karyotypic changes observed in solid tumors, which suggest that the involved regions play a general role in tumorigenesis.