Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, Vol 7, Issue 11 1051-1054, Copyright © 1998 by American Association for Cancer Research

ARTICLES

Frequency of trisomy 20 in nonmalignant bronchial epithelium from lung cancer patients and cancer-free former uranium miners and smokers

RE Neft, RE Crowell, FD Gilliland, MM Murphy, JL Lane, H Harms, T Coons, E Heaphy, SA Belinsky and JF Lechner
Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185, USA. RNEFT@lrri.org

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths. The development of sensitive screening methods to identify at-risk individuals before emergence of clinical disease would permit early intervention that could decrease this mortality. Our previous studies have shown that cells with trisomy 7 can be detected in bronchial epithelium from cancer-free smokers and former uranium miners. However, the use of more than one molecular marker could increase the chance of identifying at-risk individuals. Trisomy 20, which is found in 43-57% of non-small cell lung cancers, is a candidate marker. The purpose of the current investigation was to determine the percentage of cells with trisomy 20 in persons with a high risk for lung cancer. Bronchial epithelial cells that had been assayed for trisomy 7 were assayed for trisomy 20 by fluorescence in situ hybridization. Trisomy 20 was detected in bronchial epithelial cells from lung cancer patients and from smokers and ex-uranium miners without lung cancer. In some cases, patients who were negative for trisomy 7 exhibited trisomy 20. Consequently, more people with field cancerization were identified using both markers. However, the two markers combined did not appear to stratify the risk for lung cancer.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. Varella-Garcia, L. Chen, R. L. Powell, F. R. Hirsch, T. C. Kennedy, R. Keith, Y. E. Miller, J. D. Mitchell, and W. A. Franklin Spectral Karyotyping Detects Chromosome Damage in Bronchial Cells of Smokers and Patients with Cancer Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., September 1, 2007; 176(5): 505 - 512. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. A. Belinsky, W. A. Palmisano, F. D. Gilliland, L. A. Crooks, K. K. Divine, S. A. Winters, M. J. Grimes, H. J. Harms, C. S. Tellez, T. M. Smith, et al. Aberrant Promoter Methylation in Bronchial Epithelium and Sputum from Current and Former Smokers Cancer Res., April 1, 2002; 62(8): 2370 - 2377. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. H. March, P. G. Marron-Terada, and S. A. Belinsky Refinement of an Orthotopic Lung Cancer Model in the Nude Rat Vet. Pathol., September 1, 2001; 38(5): 483 - 490. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. A. Powell, S. Klares, G. O'Connor, and J. S. Brody Loss of Heterozygosity in Epithelial Cells Obtained by Bronchial Brushing: Clinical Utility in Lung Cancer Clin. Cancer Res., August 1, 1999; 5(8): 2025 - 2034. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]