Chromosome 3 and 12p rearranged in a well-differentiated peritoneal mesothelioma

Our plain-English summary of Chromosome 3 and 12p rearranged in a well-differentiated peritoneal mesothelioma, by H.J. Decker, F.P. Li, H.A. Bixenman, et al (Cancer Genetics and Cytogenetics, 1990).

The study

• Authors: H.J. Decker, F.P. Li, H.A. Bixenman, A.A. Sandberg
• Journal: Cancer Genetics and Cytogenetics
• Published: 1990;46(1):135-7
• Type of article: Case report, Letter
• Cited by: 18 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Summary of the article

This letter reported the chromosome findings in one case of well-differentiated peritoneal mesothelioma. The patient was a 72-year-old woman with a history of Graves thyroiditis, a resected squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva, and multiple resected squamous and basal cell carcinomas of the face. She had no documented asbestos exposure, no family history of asbestos exposure, and her husband had not been exposed. Peritoneoscopy showed multiple nodules, and biopsies confirmed the diagnosis. After treatment with adriamycin, she underwent debulking surgery and omentectomy, and a piece of the tumor was taken for cytogenetic study. Seven harvests were performed and chromosomes were stained by GTG-banding. Seventy-three cells showed the karyotype 51,XX,+5,+7,+15,+16,del(3)(p14p24),del(11)(q22q25),t(3;12)(q13;p13). Four cells had a normal karyotype, one cell was tetraploid, and three cells showed hypodiploidy attributed to random loss. The authors compared these findings with published cytogenetic reports, most of which concerned pleural mesotheliomas with asbestos exposure. They noted that the only other peritoneal mesothelioma without asbestos exposure described cytogenetically in detail also had a breakpoint at 12p13. The only known oncogene close to this region is K-ras, at 12p12.1. They also noted that the 3p14 breakpoint corresponds to a known fragile site. The authors concluded that deletion of parts of 3p14-p21 and the 12p13 breakpoint may be of importance for the development of non-asbestos-related peritoneal mesotheliomas.

PubMed has no abstract for this study, and the article doesn't print one. We wrote this summary from the full article with the help of AI. It is not the authors' wording.

In plain English

This letter to the editor described one case: a 72-year-old woman with a well-differentiated peritoneal mesothelioma, a tumor of the abdominal lining. She had no documented asbestos exposure, no family history of asbestos exposure, and her husband had not been exposed. She was treated with adriamycin and then had surgery, and a piece of the tumor was taken for chromosome study. In 73 cells, the tumor had 51 chromosomes instead of 46. These cells had extra copies of chromosomes 5, 7, 15 and 16, and missing segments in the short arm of chromosome 3 (p14 to p24) and the long arm of chromosome 11 (q22 to q25). They also had an exchange of material between chromosome 3 and chromosome 12, at band 12p13. Four cells had a normal chromosome pattern (46,XX). The authors noted that only three chromosomes were rearranged. They also noted that this 12p13 breakpoint matched the only other peritoneal mesothelioma without asbestos exposure previously described in detail at the chromosome level. They concluded that loss of part of chromosome 3's short arm and the 12p13 breakpoint may be important in peritoneal mesotheliomas not related to asbestos.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Case report published as a letter to the editor (chromosome analysis of one tumor)
• Who was studied: One 72-year-old female patient with well-differentiated peritoneal mesothelioma, with a history of Graves thyroiditis, a resected squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva, and multiple resected squamous and basal cell carcinomas of the face
• Exposure: No documented asbestos exposure, no family history of asbestos exposure, and no exposure of her husband. The study examined chromosome changes in the tumor, using a sample taken after treatment with adriamycin.
• Main results:
  • 73 tumor cells showed the karyotype 51,XX,+5,+7,+15,+16,del(3)(p14p24),del(11)(q22q25),t(3;12)(q13;p13). This means 51 chromosomes, with extra chromosomes 5, 7, 15 and 16, deletions in chromosomes 3 and 11, and an exchange between chromosomes 3 and 12.
  • Four cells had a normal karyotype (46,XX), 1 cell was tetraploid, and three cells showed hypodiploidy that the authors attributed to random loss
  • Only three chromosomes were involved in rearrangements, and chromosome 3 was involved twice: a deletion in its short arm and an exchange (translocation) with chromosome 12
  • The authors noted that the chromosome 12 breakpoint (12p13) was identical to that in the only other peritoneal mesothelioma without asbestos exposure previously described cytogenetically (at the chromosome level) in detail. That case was reported in an earlier study, not this one.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that deletion of parts of the short arm of chromosome 3 (3p14-p21) and the breakpoint at 12p13 may be of importance for the development of peritoneal mesotheliomas not related to asbestos.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors stated that the specificity of chromosome 3p deletions and the importance of outside (exogenous) factors are speculative

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Mesothelioma, Peritoneal mesothelioma.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Well-Differentiated, Peritoneal Mesothelioma, Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Carcinoma, Asbestos Exposure, Cytoreductive Surgery, Pleural Mesothelioma.

Related studies

• Recurring loss involving chromosomes 1, 3, and 22 in malignant mesothelioma: possible sites of tumor suppressor genes — W.L. Flejter, F.P. Li, et al. (1989)
• Translocation (3;3)(p14;q29) as the primary chromosome abnormality in a peritoneal mesothelioma — M.R. Teixeira, K.E. Giercksky, et al. (1998)
• Chromosome nondisjunction during bipolar mitoses of binucleated intermediates promote aneuploidy formation along with multipolar mitoses rather than chromosome loss in micronuclei induced by asbestos — T. Zhang, L. Lv, et al. (2017)
• del(6q) as a possible primary change in malignant mesothelioma — A.M. Meloni, C.F. Stephenson, et al. (1992)
• Translocation X;12 in mesothelioma — P. Dal Cin, I. De Wever, et al. (1991)
• Well-differentiated papillary mesothelioma: peritoneal implants are not always metastases in the presence of cancer — G.W. Irwin, A. Ervine, et al. (2014)

Browse more research in Cancer Genetics and Cytogenetics, or return to medical research.