Assessment by M-FISH of karyotypic complexity and cytogenetic evolution in bladder cancer in vitro

We carried out multiplex fluorescence in situ hybridization (M-FISH) and follow-up FISH studies on a large series of transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) cell lines and 2 normal urothelium-derived cell lines, several of which have not had karyotypes reported previously. M-FISH analysis, with appropriate follow-up, complements conventional cytogenetic analysis and array CGH studies, allowing a more accurate definition of karyotype. The detailed karyotypic data obtained will assist in choosing suitable cell lines for functional studies and identifies common losses, gains, breakpoints and potential fusion gene sites in TCC. We have shown changes in cell lines RT112 and DSH1 following prolonged culture, and differences in karyotype, between RT112 cultures obtained from different sources. We propose a model for the evolutionary changes leading to these differences. A comparison with the literature found other examples of differences in cell-line karyotypes between different sources. Nevertheless, several karyotypic changes were preserved between different sources of the same cell line and were also seen in more than one cell line. These may be the most important changes and include -8p, +20, 4q-, 10p-, 16p- and breaks in 8p21. We carried out a more detailed follow-up of some regions, which showed involvement of 8p breaks and losses in 15 of 16 TCC cell lines but in neither of the normal urothelium-derived cell lines. Some changes represented distal loss, whereas others were small deletions. Further study of this region is warranted.