RECOMBINATIONS OF CHROMOSOMAL BANDS 6P21 AND 14Q24 CHARACTERIZE PULMONARY HAMARTOMAS

Cytogenetic analysis of short-term cultures from seven pulmonary hamartomas revealed an abnormal karyotype in six of them. The most characteristic aberration was an exchange of material between 6p21 and 14q24, found in three tumours. Abnormalities of either 6p or 14q were seen in another two hamartomas. Other regions that were rearranged more than once were 12q (three times) and 17p (twice), sometimes in exchange with 6p or 14q and giving rise to complex derivative chromosomes. Only one tumour had aberrations that did not involve 6p, 12q, 14q, or 17p. These results - together with the data on three previously reported pulmonary hamartomas, two of which also had t(6;14) - show that recombinations between 6p21 and 14q24 are common, and hence probably pathogenetically important. The data support the view that these tumours are genuine neoplasms rather than developmental anomalies. The coexistence of a common 14q24 breakpoint in uterine leiomyomas and pulmonary hamartomas indicates that a gene important in the genesis of both tumours exists in this band.