Clonal chromosome abnormalities in tumor cells from patients with sporadic renal cell carcinomas

The karyotype of 75 sporadic, nonpapillary renal cell carcinomas was analyzed using chromosome banding techniques. Sixty-five tumors had near-diploid stemlines, and ten had near-triploid or near-tetraploid stemlines. Aberration of chromosome 3 was detected in 71 cases. The nonrandom changes on chromosome 3 were monosomy 3, terminal deletions, or unbalanced translocations; the 3p13-pter segment was identified as the minimal common deletion. The rearrangement of chromosome 3p was the only karyotype change in 13 tumors. Abnormalities of chromosome 5 resulting in trisomy for the 5q22-qter region were found in 36 cases, while the loss of 14q22-qter segment was observed in 34 tumors. Trisomy for chromosome 7 was detected in 17 cases, and monosomy 8 and 9 occurred 14 times each. Our data show that more than one specific chromosomal site may be involved in the development of human renal cell carcinomas.