DNA cytometry analysis in childhood tumors

BACKGROUND: DNA contents in cells may be determined by flow cytometry. The relationship between malignant cell aneuploidy and prognosis is known in many types of neoplasms in adults and in children. In some situations, demonstration of an aneuploid clone verifies presence of malignant cells. Aneuploidy is rare in benign diseases. This report summarizes our first experiences with cytometric DNA analysis and shows the method's abilities to other potential users. METHODS AND RESULTS: We investigated DNA contents in blood and bone marrow (BM) specimens of 25 children with leukemia, in 41 unfixed solid tumors after biopsy and in 24 specimens of paraffin embedded neuroblastoma tissue. We also investigated 5 specimens of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with medulloblastoma, 18 specimens of CSF from patients with leukemia or lymphoma, 4 pleural exudates suspected from malignancies, and 45 specimens of possibly infiltrated BM from primary solid tumors. As the purpose of this study was to test the method on a relatively small number of specimens, we did not perform statistical analysis of our data. As reported previously, aneuploidy was frequent in CALLA + acute lymphoblastic leukemia and in types of neuroblastoma with favorable prognosis (lower clinical stages and less than 2 years of age). CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that DNA ploidy may be tested by flow cytometry in an easy and fast way. The source of the material may be unfixed tumors, deparaffinized tumors, BM, blood, CSF and pleural exudates.