Tissue-specific markers in flow cytometry of urological cancers. III. Comparing chromosomal and flow cytometric DNA analysis of bladder tumors.

Thirty-seven transitional-cell carcinomas (TCC) of the urinary bladder were analyzed by DNA flow cytometry (FCM). After labelling of the cell suspensions with antibodies to cytokeratin, the cytokeratin-positive cells and the non-epithelial cytokeratin-negative cells could be analyzed separately. After estimation of S- and G2M phase, 3/17 cases (18%) with a normal DNA index showed elevated proliferative levels, among cytokeratin-labelled suspensions only. Of these 17 cases, 14 showed chromosomal abnormalities. The remaining 20 cases were abnormal, irrespective of the technique used. Although immuno-labeling of tumor cells for cytokeratin in FCM increases the sensitivity of this method in detecting aneuploid tumors or tumors with high proliferation fractions, the discriminating power of chromosomal analysis of TCC is greater than FCM.