Isochromosome 17q is a constant finding in medulloblastoma. An interphase cytogenetic study on tissue sections

Isochromosome 17q (i[17q]) is the most frequent chromosomal abnormality in medulloblastoma, occurring in 30-60% of cases by karyotype analysis. In the present study i[17q] was demonstrated in routinely processed tissue sections of 20 medulloblastomas by in situ hybridization (ISH), using a chromosome 17 centromeric alpha satellite DNA probe. All medulloblastomas showed the i[17q] specific signal, i.e. two hybridization spots slightly apart from each other. The specific hybridization signal was not observed in ependymomas, cerebellar astrocytomas, haemangioblastomas, supratentorial neuroblastomas and ependymoblastomas. The constant finding of i[17q] in medulloblastoma depends on the much higher number of nuclei which can be analysed by ISH compared with cytogenetic techniques. Molecular data on medulloblastoma are consistent with the present results. The number of cells with i[17q] in medulloblastoma cases ranged from 3% to 9%; these figures are underestimated because of nuclear truncation in tissue sections. The percentage was not linked to patients' age, location of tumour, MIB-1 labelling index and histological type (classical vs desmoplastic). The present results indicate that i[17q] is a key event in the pathogenesis of medulloblastoma, and suggest a genetic difference between medulloblastoma and other primitive neuroectodermal tumours.