RESUMEN
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To characterize the profiles of chromosome imbalance in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and gastric cardia adenocarcinoma (GCA) from the high incidence area in Henan.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Chromosomal aberrations of 37 samples of SCC and 30 GCA were analyzed by comparative genomic hybridization comparative genomic hybridization (CGH).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>It was found that the most frequently detected gains were on chromosome arm 8q (78%), and followed by 3q, 5p, 6q and 7p. The most frequent loss was found on 3p (57%), and followed by 8p, 9q and 11q in SCC. For GCA, the most frequent gain was found on chromosome arm 20q (43%), and followed by 6q, 8q and 6p. The most frequent loss was on the chromosome 17p (57%), and followed by 19p, 1p and 4p.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The present findings demonstrate that gains of 8q, 3q and 5p, and losses of 3p, 8p, and 9q are characteristic profile of chromosome imbalance in SCC, and the gains of 20q, 6q and losses of 17p, 19p and 1p are characteristic profile of chromosome imbalance in GCA, which provide important theoretic information for identifying and cloning novel SCC/GCA-related genes.</p>