[Indirect immunofluorescence method using anticentromere antibodies and its application in the study of chromosome...

The discovery that individuals with CREST-syndrome scleroderma (calcinosis cutis, Raynaud phenomenon, eosinophilia, telangiectasia) have anticentromere antibodies (ACA) in their peripheral blood has made it possible to visualize centromeres using indirect immunofluorescence staining. We have studied two tumor cells lines (k562 and SP2/0) using ACA and immunofluorescence techniques. In SP2/0 cells, two abnormal chromosomes were observed: One had a Robertsonian translocation and the other had a tandem translocation. Both were dicentric chromosomes, and the centromeres were functionally active. C-banding cannot reveal these specificities. It has been proposed that abnormal active dicentric chromosomes are mitotically unstable. This indirect immunofluorescence method may have its use in clinical cytogenetics.