Amplification of chromosome 8 genes in lung cancer

Chromosomal alterations are frequent events in lung carcinogenesis and usually display regions of focal amplification containing several overexpressed oncogenes. Although gains and losses of chromosomal loci have been reported copy number changes of the individual genes have not been analyzed in lung cancer. In this study 22 genes were analyzed by MLPA in tumors and matched normal tissue samples from 82 patients with non-small cell lung cancer. Gene amplifications were observed in 84% of the samples. Chromosome 8 was found to harbor the most frequent copy number alterations. The most frequently amplified genes were ZNF703, PRDM14 and MYC on chromosome 8 and the BIRC5 gene on chromosome 17. The frequency of deletions were much lower and the most frequently deleted gene was ADAM9. Amplification of the ZNF703, PRDM14 and MYC genes were highly correlated suggesting that the genes displaying high copy number changes on chromosome 8 collaborate during lung carcinogenesis.