A program is presented for the cytogenetic evaluation and the establishment of permanent cell lines in tissue culture of two representative adult solid tumors, ovarian and endometrial carcinomas. To maximize the yield of anlayzable metaphases and to optimize the quality of Giemsa banding of chromosomes, a series of variables in individual steps in the preparation of metaphases will be studied. To define specific breakpoints and the chromosomes of origin of segments participating in structural rearrangements in the tumors, two molecular genetic techniques (in situ hybridization and the analysis of restriction fragment length polymorphisms of probes assigned to specific chromosomal segments) will be combined with chromosmal banding. Amplification (multiple gene copies) and expression (active mRNA synthesis) of individual onc genes will also be studied in each tumor. Comparisons will be made between the cytogenetic findings and patterns of onc gene expression/amplification, and clinical staging/pathological grading and outcome. This will establish whether specific chromosome rearrangements and onc gene activation are of diagnostic and/or prognostic value. The general value of cytogenetics in the study of cancer will, then, be tested by extending the protocols developed and the analyses described for the gyneocologic malignancies to other solid tumors of adults.
