Chromogenic in situ hybridization analysis of chromosomes 7, 9, and 17 in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma based on tissue microarrays.
OBJECTIVE
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly aggressive neoplasm. Many different chromosomal alterations have been identified including structural or numerical changes. In this study we performed a molecular analysis of chromosomes 7,9, and 17 based on tissue microarrays (TMA).


METHODS
Using TMA technology, 50 paraffin-embedded tissue samples of histologically confirmed primary PDACs were cored twice and re-embedded to the final recipient block. Chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH) was performed using centromeric probes of the corresponding chromosomes. SPSS(chi square test and interrater kappa) was performed for statistical analysis.


RESULTS
Chromosome 17 analysis detected aneuploidy in 19 (38%) cases. Similarly, aneuploidy regarding chromosome 9 was identified in 9 (18%) cases, whereas 14 (28%) cases were aneuploid, concerning chromosome 7. Statistical significance was assessed, correlating chromosome 7 with grade and stage (p=0.016 and p=0.027, respectively) and chromosome 9 to grade (p=0.023). Similarly, analyzing normal-appearing ductal epithelia adjacent to cancer cell populations, 2 cases were found with alterations regarding chromosome 9 and 17.


CONCLUSIONS
Molecular analysis for chromosomes 7, 9 and 17 in PDAC confirmed that there is a variety of numerical alterations, and some of them represent very early genetic events in the progression of carcinogenetic process. Performance of CISH, also, provides an easy, accurate approach for their detection, even in a small tissue sample, such as TMA cylindrical cores.
Tsiambas
E
E
Department of Pathology, Tissue Microarrays and Image Analysis Lab, 417 VA (NIMTS) Hospital, Athens, Greece. tsiambasecyto@yahoo.com
Karameris
A
A
Stamatelopoulos
A
A
Baltayiannis
N
N
Manaios
L
L
Gerontopoulos
K
K
Talieri
M
M
Athanassiou
A E
AE
Patsouris
E
E
D000368:Aged; D021441:Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal / Q000235:genetics*; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D002886:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 17 / Q000235:genetics; D002897:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 7 / Q000235:genetics; D002899:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 9 / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017403:In Situ Hybridization / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis / Q000379:methods