Mammary carcinoma: comparison of DNA-content in the primary tumor and the corresponding axillary lymphnode metastases.

Twenty primary mammary carcinomas and their corresponding axillary lymphnode metastases were studied. The DNA-content of individual tumor cells was measured in sections from the original paraffin embedded specimens. Comparison between the DNA-patterns obtained from the primary tumor and the corresponding metastases showed very close agreement in all but one case. Both euploid and aneuploid tumors were represented. In spite of having lymphnode metastases at operation, 8 patients survived more than 10 years after operation. All of these patients had euploid tumors, in contrast to 11 patients who died within 2 years, in whom all but one of the tumors showed aneuploid DNA-patterns. The results suggest that tumor progression in terms of lymphnode metastases is usually not associated with major changes in tumor nuclear DNA-content.