Benign and malignant thyroid tumors constitute a wide range of neoplasias showing recurrent chromosome abnormalities. In an attempt to characterize specific numerical chromosome abnormalities in thyroid tissues, we present here the findings from a study of archival samples depicted by 10 malignant tumors, 30 benign lesions, and 10 normal thyroid tissues. Fluorescence in situ hybridization was performed on noncultured samples using biotinylated centromere-specific probes for chromosomes 7, 10, and 17. Trisomy or tetrasomy 7 were present in 19 benign and in 7 malignant tumors. Trisomy 10 or 17 were observed in 18 adenomas or goiters and in 9 carcinomas, and monosomy 17 was seen in 2 carcinomas. Our findings suggest that such abnormalities are an in vivo phenomenon and may be important in the neoplastic proliferation of thyroid gland.
We present a simple procedure for interphase fluorescence in situ rehybridization (FISH). This procedure was used to evaluate fresh prostate tumor from needle biopsy specimens. Digoxigenin-labeled DNA probes were hybridized onto nuclei which had been previously investigated by FISH using biotin-labeled DNA probes. This method makes it possible to reanalyze the same nuclei with different centromeric DNA probes and is useful in cases where a limited number of slides are available.
A proliferação da célula tiroideana normal é regulada por fatores de crescimento estimuladores e inibidores, que atuam através de seus receptores de membrana e, subseqüentemente, através de transdutores citoplasmáticos. Na glândula normal adulta, o equilíbrio de sinais é tal que a proliferação é mínima, enquanto nas neoplasias o crescimento resulta de um distúrbio irreversível desse equilíbrio. Apesar do número de moléculas envolvidas nesse processo ser grande, apenas um pequeno subgrupo parece estar envolvido na tumorigênese tiroideana. Tais proteínas são codificadas pelos genes RAS, RET, NTRK1 e TP53. O transdutor de sinais ras é ativado por mutações em ponto e constitui uma alteração genética precoce nos tumores com histologia folicular. Os genes dos receptores de crescimento RET e NTRK1 são alterados por rearranjos cromossômicos do tipo translocação ou inversão nos carcinomas papilares e por mutações em ponto nos medulares. As alterações do gene TP53, por sua vez, têm sido observadas em carcinomas tiroideanos pobremente diferenciados e na maioria dos indiferenciados, o que sugere sua participação na progressão dessas lesões. O modelo molecular da carcinogênese tiroideana, embora ainda incompleto, pode fornecer instrumentos importantes para o diagnóstico diferencial e para o desenvolvimento de novas técnicas terapêuticas nesse grupo de neoplasias.
Univ Estadual Paulista, Inst Biociencias Letras & Ciencias Exatas, IBILCE, Dept Biol, Sao Jose do Rio Preto, SP, Brazil
We describe a rapid procedure for preparing archival tissues for interphase FISH analysis. The present protocol differs from others previously described because it allows the obtention of nuclei in satisfactory number and quality without using special equipments, adhesive-treated slides or solutions for chromatin decondensation. The method is of low cost and useful for retrospective analyses of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples.
Short-term cultures of a collagenase disaggregated ameloblastoma previously diagnosed as an adenoid cystic carcinoma of the salivary gland were shown by cytogenetic analysis to have the clonal karyotype 45,XY,del(10)(p12), −22. The data may indicate that the loss of genes of chromosome 22, as well as of 10p, could be a critical event in the evolutionary pattern of odontogenic neoplasias.