title: Increased number of chromosome 7 is related to overexpression of EGF receptor gene in human glioblastomas.
abstract: Karyotype and nucleic acid analyses have been performed on glioblastoma-derived primary cell lines at early passages. Four out of five cell lines displayed a significant increase in copy number of epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor gene, which was related to polisomy of chromosome 7, where the gene is the been localized. Since EGF is a potent growth factor for human glial cells, and EGF receptor gene is the cellular homologue of the v-erb-B oncogene, we analyzed its expression in the tumor cell lines. Our results show that numerical alteration of chromosome 7 was constantly associated with overexpression of EGF receptor gene. Moreover, the high level of EGF receptor specific transcripts detected in two cell lines suggests that deregulation of the transcriptional activity of EGF receptor gene also occurred in these tumor cells.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Genetica e Microbiologia 'A. Buzzati-Traverso', Università di Pavia, Via S. Epifanio 14, 27100, Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Talarico
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Raimondi
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fognani
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Gerosa
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gregotti
authors.forename: G D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Valle
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Carli