A patient with meningioma showing multiple cytogenetic abnormalities and a constitutional translocation...

Several different clonal abnormalities in both hypo- and hyperdiploid cell lines were observed in tumor cells of a 35-year-old man with a syncytial meningioma. A translocation involving chromosomes 3 and 9, t(3;9)(q13.3;q22), was present in all analyzable tumor cells and proved to be constitutional. The breakpoints 3q13.3 and 9q22 are involved in acquired karyotypic abnormalities in a number of tumors and might be situated near a tumor suppressor gene. The development of malignancies has been observed in patients with constitutional translocations involving 3q13.3 but not 9q22. We conclude that translocations involving 3q13.3 and maybe 9q22 could present constitutional chromosomal abnormalities predisposing for the development of a malignancy. Patients in whose tumor cells a translocation involving 3q13.3 or 9q22 is observed should be checked for a similar constitutional abnormality.