Phosphatemia is related to chromosomal aberrations of parathyroid glands in patients with hyperparathyroidism

It has been well documented that gene and DNA alterations occur frequently in benign primary parathyroid adenomas as well as in parathyroid glands with secondary hyperplasia. However, it has not been shown whether a correlation exists between somatic DNA aberrations and clinical data.

We analyzed the frequency of chromosomal aberrations in adenomas obtained from 25 patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT) and 60 parathyroid nodules from 20 uremic patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism (sHPT). The relation of chromosomal aberrations to parathyroid hormone, as well as calcium and phosphate serum concentrations, was assessed. Allelic changes were evaluated by microsatellite allelotyping using 105 polymorphic markers.

Somatic chromosomal aberrations were found in 23 out of 25 adenomas, in hyperplastic lesions from 16 out of 20 patients. In pHPT as well as in sHPT a positive correlation was found between the number of chromosomal alterations and serum phosphate concentration (tau=0.270, p=0.05; and tau=0.362, p=0.03, respectively). Only in pHPT was a negative correlation of borderline significance between serum parathormone (PTH) and number of aberrated chromosomes noticed (tau=-0.258, p=0.07). There was no correlation between the number of DNA changes and serum concentration of calcium or tumor volume.

Hyperphosphatemia may increase the risk of specific and random chromosomal aberrations due to increasing proliferation rate of parathyroid cells in patients with sHPT.