Clonal analysis by PCR and RFLP in breast cancer and precancerous lesions. Preliminary data.

In order to investigate the clonality in various benign, precancerous and malignant breast lesions, we analyzed small DNA samples from paraffin sections of various breast lesions by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of the X-chromosome-linked phosphoglycerokinase (PGK) gene. DNA from the lesion as well as from the adjacent normal tissue were analyzed in each case. Two restriction endonucleases. Hpa-II, a methylation sensitive restriction enzyme and Bst XI, a restriction endonuclease, which recognizes this polymorphic site on the PGK gene, were used. Of 19 cases, one case of in situ ductal Ca (DCIS), two cases of invasive ductal Ca and one case of multifocal ductal Ca were shown to be monoclonal. Two cases of intraductal papillomas were found to be polyclonal. One case of atypical ductal hyperplasia showed no conclusive findings. Additionally DNA was not yielded from 3 cases and other 7 cases were not informative, derived from females homozygotes. Further study of a larger number of cases is in progress.