Abstract
The techniques for obtaining chromosomes from phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-stimulated lymphocytes for constitutional studies have been standardized to give consistent, reproducible results in almost all cases. It is therefore possible to refine and define a protocol that can be confidently used to provide an abundance of high-quality metaphases and prometaphases. For malignant cells, however, it can seem that every patient’s chromosomes have an idiosyncratic reaction to the culture conditions, if the abnormal cells condescend to divide at all. For example, samples from different patients with leukemia can give widely different chromosome morphologies, even when processed simultaneously. In some cases it is also possible to recognize distinct populations of divisions on the same slide, often those with good morphology being apparently normal and those with poor morphology having some abnormality. It was once thought that poor morphology alone, even in the absence of detectable abnormality, might be sufficient to identify a malignant clone. However tempting this explanation has been to anyone who has seen such coexisting populations, such a hypothesis has not been subsequently confirmed. The formal demonstration of a clone in malignancy still requires the identification of some acquired genetic abnormality.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Wheater, R. F. and Roberts, S. H. (1987) An improved lymphocyte culture technique: deoxycytidine release of a thymidine block and use of a constant humidity chamber for slide making. J. Med. Genet., 24, 113–115
Brigaudeau, C., Gachard, N., Clay, D., Fixe, P., Rouzier, E., and Praloran, V. (1996) A ‘miniaturized’ method for the karyotypic analysis of bone marrow or blood samples in hematological malignancies. Pathology 38, 275–277.
Raza, A., Maheshwari, Y., and Preisler, H. D. (1987) Differences in cell characteristics among patients with acute nonlymphocytic leukemia. Blood 69, 1647–1653.
Berger, R., Bernheim, A., Daniel, M. T., Valensi, F., and Flandrin, G. (1983) Cytological types of mitoses and chromosome abnormalities in acute leukemia. Leukemia Res. 7, 221–235.
Keinanen, M., Knuutila, S., Bloomfield, C. D., Elonen, E., and de la Chapelle, A. (1986) The proportion of mitoses in different cell lineages changes during short-term culture of normal human bone marrow. Blood 67, 1240–1243.
Shiloh, Y. and Cohen, M. M. (1978) An improved technique of preparing bone-marrow specimens for cytogenetic analysis. In Vitro 14, 510–515
Hozier, J. C. and Lindquist, L. L. (1980) Banded karyotypes from bone marrow: a clinical useful approach. Hum. Genet. 53, 205–9.
Boucher, B. and Norman, C. S. (1980) Cold synchronization for the study of peripheral blood and bone marrow chromosomes in leukemias and other hematologic disease states. Hum. Genet. 54, 207–211
Gallo, J. H., Ordonez, J. V., Grown, G. E., and Testa, J. R. (1984) Synchronisation of human leukemic cells: relevance for high-resolution banding. Hum. Genet. 66, 220–224.
Morris, C. M., and Fitzgerald, P. H. (1985) An evaluation of high resolution chromosome banding of hematologic cells by methotrexate synchronisation and thymidine release. Cancer Genet. Cytogenet. 14, 275–284.
Webber, L. M. and Garson, O. M. (1983) Fluorodeoxyuridine synchronisation of bone marrow cultures. Cancer Genet. Cytogenet. 8, 123–132.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2003 Humana Press Inc.
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Swansbury, J. (2003). Cytogenetic Studies in Hematologic Malignancies. In: Swansbury, J. (eds) Cancer Cytogenetics. Methods in Molecular Biology™, vol 220. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-363-1:009
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-363-1:009
Publisher Name: Humana Press
Print ISBN: 978-1-58829-080-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-363-7
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols