Cytogenetic studies of primary cultures of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Cytogenetic analysis was performed on primary cultures of 21 squamous cell carcinomas of the esophagus (SCCE). Seven cases exhibited mosaic clonal chromosome abnormalities distributed as follows: two contained tetraploid cell populations, one with t(3;7)(p21;q11); two showed loss of the Y chromosome, one with double minutes; single cases demonstrated der(11)t(4;11)(q?27;q23); add(1)(p35) and del(4)(p12); and del(7)(p13), del(7)(q22q34), and der(11)t(7;11)(p?15;p?13). The remaining 14 cases had apparently normal karyotypes, possibly derived from stromal elements. These results demonstrate numerical abnormalities and the multiple occurrence of rearrangements involving chromosomes 7 and 11 in SCCE.