A common cytogenetic abnormality and DNA content alterations in dedifferentiated chondrosarcoma

Dedifferentiated chondrosarcoma is an uncommon and aggressive variant of chondrosarcoma. The authors report the flow cytometric characteristics and cytogenetic findings in culture of two cases of dedifferentiated chondrosarcoma. The first case was DNA diploid by flow cytometry but had cytogenetic abnormalities consisting of breaks in the short arms of both chromosomes 1, resulting in deletion in one homolog and recombination in the other. In addition, cells from this tumor showed a balanced translocation between chromosomes 4 and 5, deletion of chromosome 9, and monosomy for chromosome 10. The second case was DNA aneuploid and more complex cytogenetically but had, in common with the first case, rearrangement and translocation at the same band on chromosome 1. These cytogenetic changes are compared with abnormalities previously reported for chondrosarcoma. Possible relationships between the nonrandom chromosomal abnormalities and subclassification among chondrosarcomas are discussed.