Interphase cytogenetics in frozen ovarian tumor tissue

Resulting from problems of low yield of metaphases and poor-quality chromosomes, detection of cytogenetic changes in solid tumors has been relatively limited (1). The advent of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) rendered it possible to obtain "cytogenetic information" from interphase nuclei (2,3). Since that time, interphase cytogenetics has become a powerful tool to investigate numerical chromosomal aberrations (4,5), amplification of oncogenes (6), or deletion of tumor suppressor genes in solid tumors (7), including ovarian cancer. Both fresh tumor material (8-10) or formalin-fixed and, subsequently, paraffin-embedded tissue have been used for interphase cytogenetic studies in ovarian tumors (4-6 8-10).