6th ESACP Congress, Heidelberg, April 7-11, 1999

A063
CHROMOSOMAL GAINS AND LOSSES IN LARYNX AND PHARYNX CARCINOMAS BY COMPARATIVE GENOMIC HYBRIDIZATION (CGH)
Guervós MA 1, Hermsen M 2, Álvarez-Marcos C 3, Salas A 1, Sampedro A 1, Van Diest PJ 2

1) Cytometry Service, University of Oviedo, Spain; 2) Dept. Pathology, Free University Hospital, Amsterdam, Netherlands; 3) Dept. Otolaryngology, Valle Del Nalón Hospital, Asturias, Spain

Although considerable knowledge exists on clinical-pathologic, cytometric and genetic characteristics of larynx-pharynx carcinomas (LPC), still little is known about the relationship with tumor progression. DNA was extracted from frozen tissue of 16 LPC, and analysed by comparative genetic hybridization (CGH). Results were related to DNA ploidy, tumor localization and pTNM data. A high number of gains and losses was found: on average 8.3 and 5.4 per case, respectively. The highest number of gains were observed at 3q (13 cases), 8q (10 cases), 7q and 1q (7 cases), 17q and 2q (6 cases). Recurrent losses occurred at 3p (8 cases), 4q, 18q and 21q (5 cases). High level amplifications were found at 3q26-27 (5 cases), 11q13 (3 cases), 11q22 and 18q11 (2 cases), 7p22, 8q24, 13q34 and 22q11 (1 case). We found no differences in the average number or location of chromosomal changes in relation to DNA ploidy, tumor localization and pTNM stage. However, nearly all high level amplifications were displayed in larynx cases. We can conclude that chromosome 3 (3q gain and 3p loss) could have a high importance in the LPC progression. More cases are being investigated and the genetic alterations will be studied in relation to clinical follow-up data.