Molecular cytogenetic investigations of synchronous bilateral breast cancer.
BACKGROUND
Bilaterality in breast cancer is a rare event and together with an early onset of disease points towards inheritance of the disease. However, most cases seem to occur sporadically, either in a synchronous or metachronous manner.


METHODS
Thirty two invasive carcinomas and one in situ carcinoma from 16 patients with synchronous, bilateral breast cancer were investigated by means of comparative genomic hybridisation (CGH) and polymerase chain reaction based multiplex microsatellite analysis. The results were analysed conventionally and were also subjected to a biomathematical cluster analysis.


RESULTS
On average, bilateral breast cancer cases showed a low number of genetic alterations, a low frequency of genetic amplifications, and a high rate of chromosomal 16q losses. A distinct, characteristic genetic alteration associated with bilateral breast disease could not be found. Although two tumour pairs appeared to be related using biomathematical processing for microsatellite analysis, this result was reproduced by CGH data processing in one patient only.


CONCLUSIONS
Most synchronous, bilateral breast cancer cases seem to represent independent tumours rather than metastatic events. Nevertheless, the possibility of a specific susceptibility remains.
Agelopoulos
K
K
Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Westfälische Wilhelmsuniversität Münster, Albert-Einsteinstr. 33, 48149 Münster, Germany.
Tidow
N
N
Korsching
E
E
Voss
R
R
Hinrichs
B
B
Brandt
B
B
Boecker
W
W
Buerger
H
H
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D002278:Carcinoma in Situ / Q000235:genetics; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000235:genetics*; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019656:Loss of Heterozygosity; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D008875:Middle Aged; D009378:Neoplasms, Multiple Primary / Q000235:genetics*; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods