title: Sex chromosome anomalies in pancreatic endocrine tumors.
abstract: We have investigated the status of sex chromosomes in 40 pancreatic endocrine tumors (PETs) using 2 complementary techniques: microsatellite and interphase FISH analysis. Twenty-five tumors were from female and 15 from male patients and included 31 nonfunctioning and 9 functioning PET (6 insulinomas, 2 glucagonomas and 1 VIPoma). Microsatellite and FISH analysis showed concordant results in all cases. PETs from females showed frequent loss of chromosome X (40%) whereas PETs from males showed relatively frequent loss of chromosome Y (36%) but never loss of the X chromosome. Statistical analysis showed significant association of sex chromosome loss with metastases (Spearman correlation test, r = 0.5, p < 0.001), local invasion (r = 0.33, p < 0.05) and high proliferation rate measured as Ki-67 index with a 5% cut-off (r = 0.42, p < 0.02). The analysis also showed that local invasion and metastases were highly correlated (r = 0.86). Multivariate survival analysis was therefore carried out including local invasion and loss of sex chromosomes. The presence of local invasion increased the risk of death almost 9 times whereas sex chromosome loss was an independent variable associated with a shorter survival period and an increased risk of death of approximately 4-fold.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Università di Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Edoardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Missiaglia
authors.forename: Patrick S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Jill
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Williamson
authors.forename: Nicholas R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Lemoine
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Falconi
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zamboni
authors.forename: Aldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Scarpa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D022981:Allelic Imbalance; D004701:Endocrine Gland Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D019656:Loss of Heterozygosity; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D008875:Middle Aged; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D012729:Sex Chromosome Aberrations; D014960:X Chromosome / Q000235:genetics; D014998:Y Chromosome / Q000235:genetics