Cytogenetic studies in 45 pediatric brain tumors

Brain tumors are the most frequent childhood tumors. There have been few cytogenetic studies published on these tumors in children compared to the numerous studies on adult brain tumors. We examined chromosomes from 45 primary pediatric brain neoplasms including 14 medulloblastomas, 12 astrocytomas, 4 glioblastomas, 7 ependymomas, 5 craniopharyngiomas, 2 meningiomas, and 1 ganglioglioma. Chromosomal abnormalities were found in 10 medulloblastomas out of the 14 analyzed. The most frequently observed abnormalities were the total or partial loss of one chromosome 17: monosomy 17, i(17q), and a monosomy 22 in 4 cases of desmoplastic medulloblastoma. In glioblastoma, we observed the gain of chromosome 7, chromosome 3, a monosomy 10, and hyperdiploidy. The loss of chromosome X was observed in 2 cases of ependymoma as was a monosomy 22. Our observations show that from the cytogenetic point of view childhood brain tumors differ from adult brain tumors.