Vol. 9, No 3, 2002 pp. 245 - 247
UC 616.61-004 616.62-006
DETECTION OF COPY NUMBER CHANGES OF 20q13.2
IN TRANSITIONAL CELL CARCINOMAS OF THE URINARY
BLADDER - TISSUE MICROARRAY ANALYSIS
Draga I. Toncheva, Boriana M. Zaharieva
Department of Medical Genetics, Medical University of Sofia, Bulgaria
E-mail: draga@spnet.net
Summary. Gains and amplifications in 20q have been reported in a
number of malignancies including bladder cancer by comparative genomic
hybridization.
In order to study the relation of the increased copy number of 20q13.2
with tumor phenotype in bladder cancer, we applied FISH on a tissue microarray.
Overall, the frequency of 20q13.2 alterations was 14.9%, including
9.6% gains and 5.3% amplifications.
20q13.2 amplifications were more frequent in pT2-4 than in pT1 tumors
but the difference was not significant. Amplifications were not associated
with the tumor grade.
Gains were significantly more frequent in pT2-4 than in pT1 tumors
and were strongly associated with the tumor grade. These associations were
observed also if both amplifications and gains were considered together.
In conclusion, our results suggest that increased copy number of 20q13.2
is associated with unfavorable tumor phenotype in bladder cancer which
is mostly due to genetic gains rather than amplifications.
Key words: 20q13.2, tissue microchips, bladder cancer,
fluorescence in situ hybridization
