DNA fingerprinting of renal cell carcinoma with special reference to tumor heterogeneity.

Genomic alterations in renal cell carcinoma were investigated by DNA fingerprinting using the simple repetitive oligonucleotide probe (CAC)s. Nine of ten tumors showed somatic changes in the fingerprint pattern compared with constitutional DNA. The most consistent changes were deletions and/or decrease in intensity of a band. When using two or three samples from different parts within the tumor, up to three different cell clones could be detected. These results indicate that DNA fingerprinting analysis can be a useful technique for the study of genomic alterations and tumor heterogeneity in renal cell carcinoma.