NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Chromosome 17 aneuploidy is associated with prognosis in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, researchers in Germany report in the December 1st issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
“Our study reveals that operable patients with diploid and chromosomal stable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma tumors had a favorable course of disease when compared with patients whose tumors displayed extensive chromosomal instability as measured by chromosome 17 chromogen in situ hybridization,” lead investigator Dr. Nikolas H. Stoecklein told Reuters Health,
Dr. Stoecklein of Universitatsklinikum Dusseldorf and colleagues examined 50 resected pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma tissue sections.
Although the HER2 gene locus was amplified in 24% of the specimens, this appeared to have no prognostic significance.
Copy number analysis of chromosomes 7, 8 and 17 showed that 40% were disomic, 36% were trisomic and the remaining 24% were hypertetrasomic.
Compared with patients with disomic tumors, those with hypertetrasomic tumors showed significantly decreased relapse-free survival (5 months versus 13 months). This was also true for overall survival (7 months versus 20 months).
Since pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma patients with extensive chromosomal instability are “at high risk for metastatic relapse,” Dr. Stoecklein continued, “chromosome 17 chromogen in situ hybridization should be useful for patient stratification in therapeutic trials.”
Moreover, he added, “this different biology should be considered in the design of adjuvant therapeutic regimens for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.”
Source: J Clin Oncol 2004;22:4685-4693. [ Google search on this article ]
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