Use of fluorescence in situ hybridization to detect loss of chromosome 10 in astrocytomas

✓ Models describing progression in the genetic derangement of glial tumors have shown loss of chromosome 10 to occur most frequently in high-grade lesions, suggesting that identification of this loss may be prognostically significant. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis may be a valuable adjunct to histological grading if it can accurately detect this loss. In this paper the authors correlate results obtained from FISH, cytogenetic, molecular genetic, and flow cytometric analyses of a series of 39 brain specimens, including seven normal, two gliotic, and 30 neoplastic (one Grade II, one Grade III, and 28 Grade IV astrocytoma) specimens. Contiguous section of freshly resected surgical tissue were submitted for tissue culturing (karyotype) and touch preparation (FISH), snap-frozen (molecular genetic), or paraffin-embedded (histology and flow cytometry). Centromere-specific probes for chromosomes 10 and 12 were used for FISH analysis, and 19 restriction fragment length polymorphisms (two p-arm...