Abstract
We investigated the relationship between pathological data and chromosome copy number in 27 colorectal carcinomas. The copy number of pericentromeric sequences on chromosomes (ch) 7, 17 and 20 was estimated by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) within interphase nuclei from frozen sections of touch preparations. Polysomy for ch7 was found in 74.1% (20/27) of cases, and in 89.5% (17/19) of Dukes' C cases (P<0.05) . Polysomy of ch7 correlated with the ly factor and lymph node metastasis (P<0.05) . Nine of 11 (81.1%) of cases with liver metastasis showed trisomy of ch20, compared with 5 of 16 cases (31.2%) without liver metastasis. Polysomy of ch 17 was found in 70.4% (19/27) of cases, however no correlation was found between polysomy of ch 17 and pathological factors. Trisomy of ch20 was significantly correlated with liver metastasis (P<0.05) . Accordingly, ch20 copy numbers were examined in 11 cases of metastatic liver tumors and they similarly showed trisomy of ch20 in 9 cases (81.8%), indicating that trisomy of ch20 correlates with liver metastasis. This study suggests that the analysis of ch7 and ch20 copy numbers in primary tumors of colorectal carcinoma may be predictive for lymph node metastasis and liver metastasis, respectively.
