Nineteen of 26 cellular oncogenes precisely localized in the human genome map to one of the 83 bands involved in primary cancer-specific rearrangements.

A total of 83 bands have been found to be specifically involved in primary structural chromosome rearrangements in human cancer. We have compared the distribution of these cancer-specific breakpoints with the chromosomal sites of the 26 cellular oncogenes currently mapped to individual bands within the human genome. Nineteen of the 26 oncogenes are localized in cancer-associated bands. This clustering of oncogene sites and cancer breakpoints is statistically highly significant (P = 0.0000012).