Pericentric inversion (2)(p15q35) in an alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma

We report a 7-year-old girl with a pericentric inversion of chromosome 2, inv(2)(p15q35), in a "solid variant" of alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. The breakpoint in the long arm of chromosome 2 at band q35 is, at the cytogenetic level, identical to the breakpoint observed in the well-established reciprocal t(2;13)(q35;q14) associated with the alveolar subtype of rhabdomyosarcoma. In this case, however, no reciprocal translocation has occurred with chromosome 13 or any other chromosome, suggesting that the single critical breakpoint in alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma may be located at 2q35.