Application of specific cytologic, cytogenetic and molecular-cytogenetic techniques for the characterization of solid tumors.

Investigations of solid tumors have shown that a very specific characterization of aberrant tissues can best be performed using a combination of cytologic, cytogenetic and molecular-cytogenetic methods. Thus, cytological analyses may serve to examine various features of tumors cultivated in vitro, e.g. growth peculiarities, cell morphology, specific details of cell division and mitotic rates, and anomalies of the spindle apparatus. Besides, chromosomal diagnostics characterizing non-specific aberrations focuses on the pathological karyotype and its evolution and heterogeneity, as well as on the development of secondary chromosomal aberrations. In the field of molecular-cytogenetic diagnostics we emphasize particularly the combination of metaphase and interphase analyses and the investigation of specific structural aberrations by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). In contrast to the method of comparative genomic hybridization (CGH), the spectrum of applications for both methods is discussed. The findings described in this paper were obtained primarily from the analysis of 68 tumors of the urogenital tract (20 kidney tumors, 33 bladder tumors, 15 testis tumors).