Molecular cytogenetic applications in analysis of the cancer genome

Cancer cells exhibit nonrandom and complex chromosome abnormalities. The role of genomic changes in cancer is well established. However, the identification of complex and cryptic chromosomal changes is beyond the resolution of conventional banding methods. The fluorescence microscopy afforded by imaging technologies, developed recently, facilitates a precise identification of these chromosome alterations in cancer. The three most commonly utilized molecular cytogenetics methods comparative genomic hybridization, spectral karyotype, and fluorescence in situ hybridization, that have already become benchmark tools in cancer cytogenetics, are described in this chapter. Comparative genomic hybridization is a powerful tool for screening copy-number changes in tumor genomes without the need for preparation of metaphases from tumor cells. Multicolor spectral karyotype permits visualization of all chromosomes in one experiment permitting identification of precise chromosomal changes on metaphases derived from tumor cells. The uses of fluorescence in situ hybridization are diverse, including mapping of alteration in single copy genes, chromosomal regions, or entire chromosomes. The opportunities to detect genetic alterations in cancer cells continue to evolve with the use of these methodologies both in diagnosis and research.