Abnormalities of chromosome 1 in relation to human malignant diseases

Chromosome 1 is known to often be involved in various malignant diseases. Its numerical and structural aberrations have been observed in chronic and acute leukemias and solid tumors as well. Recently five protooncogenes have been assigned to the long and short arms of chromosome 1. The frequent and nonspecific occurrence of chromosome 1 rearrangements in human tumors suggests that they play an important role in the pathogenesis and progression of these diseases. The frequency, types, and time of the occurrence of chromosome 1 aberrations and their relation to the stage of the disease were studied in 317 patients with various malignant diseases. In ten patients nonrandom aberrations of chromosome 1 were observed. Two patients had CML, two PRV followed by ANLL, and the remaining six patients suffered from ANLL, ALL, Burkitt lymphoma, MF, SMMoL, and IRSA, respectively. In six patients, total or partial trisomy of the long arm or of the whole chromosome 1 was present, and in three cases balanced translocations involving chromosome 1 could be found. In the cells of one patient a duplication of the centromeric heterochromatin was seen. We analyzed the breakpoints involved. Finally, the aberrations of chromosome 1 were almost always be observed at the terminal stage of the diseases.