Background:
Little is known about genetic aberrations associated with development and progression of biliary tract carcinomas.
Methods:
To study chromosomal aberrations associated with development and progression of biliary tract carcinomas, the authors used comparative genomic hybridization to examine 50 such carcinomas.
Results:
Gains in part or in whole of chromosomes 1q, 8q, and 20q and losses of 5q, 8p, 9p, and 18q were detected frequently in early stage (t1/t2 classification) biliary tract carcinomas (> or = 40% of 19 early stage tumors), and they also were found in advanced stage (t3/t4 classification) tumors. in particular, loss of 9p was the most frequently observed aberration in both early stage (15 of 19; 78%) and advanced stage tumors (21 of 31; 68%). the frequencies of gains of 7p12-p14 (p < 0.003), 7p21-pter (p < 0.007), and 7q31 (p < 0.01) differed significantly between biliary tract carcinoma with and without distant metastasis. also, gains of 5p and 19q13 and loss of 6q14-q16 were more frequent in tumors with lymph node metastasis than in those without it (p < 0.02).
Conclusions:
It is likely that loss of 9p is one of the genetic aberrations critical for the development of biliary tract carcinoma, whereas gains of 5p, 7p, 7q, and 19q and loss of 6q are considered later events associated with tumor progression and are thought to confer metastatic potential to biliary tract carcinomas.