Karyotype abnormalities in non-Hodgkin lymphomas.

Karyotype anomalies were found in 9 of 13 non-Hodgkin lymphomas. The observed non-random involvement of chromosomes was non-specific and was associated with chromosome breakpoints rather than recurrent markers. The recurrent markers which were found were similar to those of previously published studies. An attempt to correlate histological classification and chromosome anomalies in published series indicated that there were limited histological associations, the frequency of abnormalities of chromosomes 14 and 18 showing the largest disparity between disease types. Among the breakpoints and translocations found are those known to be associated with oncogene location, and the possibility is raised of an oncogene on 18.