title: Frequent translocations of 11q13.2 and 19p13.2 in ovarian cancer.
abstract: Aberrations of chromosome arm 19p in ovarian cancer were first described decades ago and have been confirmed in recent publications, which have focused on chromosome 11 as a translocation partner. Recently, genetic analysis of the ovarian cancer cell line SKOV3 revealed a rearrangement described as der(19)t(11;19)(q13.2;p13.2), which lead to a fusion protein containing parts of HOOK2 and frame shifted ACTN3 that had unknown functionality. To evaluate the frequency of these breakpoints, we used fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) probes flanking these genes for interphase analysis of ovarian cancer cells. We analyzed 49 primary cell cultures of ovarian cancers using FISH probes next to these breakpoints on chromosomes 11 and 19 defined in SKOV3. Co-localizations of the signals in interphase nuclei were considered to be positive fusions when the frequency was over the experimentally calculated cutoff of 24.3% (mean average value for normal ovary cells plus three times the standard deviation). Fusions between 11q13.2 and 19p13.2 were confirmed in 22 (45%) primary cell cultures of ovarian cancers. However, by PCR, the fusion originally described in SKOV3 was not detected in any of the primary cell cultures. Our results confirm other reports and show that these regions are very frequently involved in chromosomal rearrangements in ovarian cancer. Furthermore, they reveal a significant correlation (P = 0.023) of co-localized signals of 11q13.2 and 19p13.2 with low and intermediate grades in ovarian cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, The 2nd Affiliated Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China; Clinic of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel, Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Antonia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wenners
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hilpert
authors.forename: Regina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fredrik
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Micci
authors.forename: Wiebke
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Onkes
authors.forename: Amke
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Caliebe
authors.forename: Nicolai
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Maass
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Weimer
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Arnold
mesh_terms: D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002880:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 11; D002888:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 19; D005260:Female; D050939:Gene Fusion; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D007399:Interphase; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D014178:Translocation, Genetic