Genome abnormalities in neuroblastoma cells: cytogenetic and FISH analysis

The results of cytogenetic and FISH analysis in two children with neuroblastoma are reported in this paper. The aim of this research is to identify numerical and structural aberrations and the level of N-myc amplification by classical and molecular cytogenetics. Cytogenetic analysis was performed on slides obtained by the direct method of tumor tissue treatment. The FISH method was used on paraffin sections and cytogenetic slides using DNA probes for N-myc, LIS1 and RARA (Vysis). The analysis revealed numerical and structural aberrations. N-myc amplification was detected by cytogenetic and FISH analysis in one patient, while in the other the amplification of N-myc was excluded and tetrasomy of chromosome 17 was observed. Cytogenetic and FISH analysis are safe and useful methods for the identification of specific chromosome aberrations in metaphase and interphase tumor cells, and the results are of diagnostic and prognostic significance.