Non-isotopic molecular cytogenetics in neuro-oncology

The molecular genetic analysis of brain tumours has been the focus of considerable interest for a number of years. However, these studies have been largely directed towards understanding the fundamental biological processes involved in tumorigenesis and the techniques which have been used require considerable molecular biological skills. Unfortunately, there has not been the impetus to correlate basic biological studies with clinical or neuropathological features. The development of non-isotopic molecular cytogenetic in situ hybridization (ISH) techniques which can be applied to archival tumour material provides an opportunity to address a wide range of neuropathological questions at a genetic level. Identification of specific chromosomes has been made possible by the isolation of probes which recognize the highly repeated sequences present in the centromeric regions of individual chromosomes. Libraries of human chromosome-specific painting probes are also available. A range of probes which bind to the whole or part of specific single copy genes are becoming available. These can be detected with either fluorochromes with different emission colours or with enzymatic detection systems in either interphase nuclei derived from fresh, fixed and embedded tumour samples, touch preparations or smears (so-called 'interphase cytogenetics') as well as conventional metaphase spreads. Comparative genomic hybridization can be used to scan the entire genome for deletions or amplifications without any pre-existing information about the likely locations of these abnormalities or the availability of any specific DNA probes. These techniques can be used to identify aneuploidy or structural alterations in individual chromosomes and are likely to yield important information about the location of genes important in the pathogenesis of brain tumours and may also provide the basis for the refinement of diagnostic or prognostic criteria of these neoplasms.