Centrosome amplification and chromosomal instability in feline lymphoma cell lines

To evaluate the presence of centrosome amplification and the resulting chromosomal instability in cat tumors, a newly established feline lymphoma cell line and four already established feline lymphoma cell lines were examined using immunohistochemical analysis of centrosomes. The number of chromosomes were subsequently counted by metaphase spread. Moreover, to explore whether mutational inactivation of the p53 gene or inactivation of the P53 protein caused by mdm2 gene overexpression, occurred in the feline lymphoma cell lines, mutational analysis of the feline p53 gene was carried out. The expression of feline mdm2 mRNA was evaluated by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Centrosome amplification and chromosomal instability was observed in three out of the five feline lymphoma cell lines. Of these three feline lymphoma cell lines, one had aberrations in the P53 amino-acid sequence, whereas the others had none. There was no significant difference in the expression of mdm2 mRNA between peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) obtained from a normal cat and that of the five feline lymphoma cell lines. These findings indicate that centrosome amplification also occurs in cat tumors and is strongly correlated with chromosomal instability, suggesting that the immunostaining of centrosomes could be an alternative method for the examination of the chromosomal instability. Furthermore, this study suggests the presence of unknown mechanism that leads to the centrosome amplification in feline lymphomas.