The influence of 5-year therapy with tibolone on the lipid profile in postmenopausal women with mild hypercholesterolemia.

Our objective was to investigate the effects of 5-year therapy with tibolone on the lipid profile in postmenopausal women with mild hypercholesterolemia (total cholesterol, 241 +/- 7 mg/dl; LDL cholesterol, 153 +/- 9 mg/dl). Eighty-two patients were divided into two groups. Group A (53 women) received 2.5 mg of tibolone per day. Group B (29 women) received no tibolone. Total, low- and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and lipoprotein(a) were found to be decreased in the tibolone group, by 17.7%, 32%, 15.5% and 12%, respectively (p < 0.01) throughout the 5-year treatment, while triglycerides showed no significant change. The lipid profile in the control group remained at its initial values. Menopausal symptoms disappeared in the treatment group within the first 5 months, whereas they deteriorated in the control group during the first 2 years. Although a few unwanted side-effects on hormone-dependent tissues were observed (including vaginal spotting in 11.3% and febrile hemorrhagic cystic mastopathy in 3.8%) long-term therapy with tibolone seemed to be well tolerated, and appeared to have a beneficial effect on the levels of serum lipids.

Changes of chromosomes 1, 3, 6, and 11 in metastatic effusions arising from breast and ovarian cancer.

This cytogenetic study deals with cell material obtained from 15 pleural fluids from 11 patients with breast cancer and 27 ascitic fluids from 16 patients with ovarian cancer; in addition, 8 pleural, 5 ascitic, and 1 pericardial fluid from patients with tuberculosis, liver cirrhosis, and heart insufficiency, were studied. Using mainly direct methods, as well as short-term cell cultures, the chromosome spreads were GTG-banded. Cancerous biopsies showed a plethora of numerical and structural chromosome anomalies and exhibited broad aneuploidy. Chromosomes participating more often in numerical and structural aberrations were 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 17. This study provides further cytogenetic evidence for the involvement of these chromosomes in breast and ovarian malignancy.

Inherited duplication Xq27-qter at Xp22.3 in severely affected males: molecular cytogenetic evaluation and clinical description in three unrelated families.

We describe the clinical phenotype in four males from three families with duplication (X)(qter-->q27::p22.3-->qter). This is an unusual duplication of the distal long arm segment, Xq27-qter, onto the distal short arm of the X chromosome at Xp22.3, as shown by fluorescent in situ hybridization analysis with multiple X-specific probes. The patients are young male offspring of three unrelated, phenotypically normal carrier women. The affected males have similar clinical manifestations including severe growth retardation and developmental delay, severe axial hypotonia, and minor anomalies. Such clinical similarity in three unrelated families demonstrates that this chromosome abnormality results in a new and distinct clinical phenotype. Replication studies, performed on two of the mothers, provided evidence that inactivation of the abnormal X chromosome permitted the structural abnormality to persist in these families for a generation or more in females without phenotypic expression.

Isolation and characterization of a novel bladder cancer cell line: inhibition by epidermal growth factor.

A novel continuous cell line, designated BC3c, was established from a surgical biopsy of an invasive solid transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder derived from an 82-yr-old Caucasian female. BC3c cells were near-triploid bearing multiple structural and numerical chromosome anomalies. The epithelial origin of the cancer cells was indicated by the expression of cytokeratins 8 and 19 as well as by the absence of mesenchymal markers. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction-fragment length polymorphisms and single-strand conformation polymorphism mutation detection assays did not reveal any mutations in H-ras codon 12 and K-ras codons 12 and 13. In addition, no mutation in specific hot-spot codons of the p53 gene and no accumulation of the p53 protein were observed. BC3c cells grew rapidly in vitro, even in the absence of exogenous growth factors, because they were found to stimulate their growth in an autocrine manner. BC3c cells were found to express the epidermal growth factor-receptor (EGF-r) abundantly, but in contrast to other established bladder cancer cell lines, human recombinant epidermal growth factor inhibited the cells' proliferation in vitro. These features render the newly established bladder cancer cell line BC3c a useful tool for further experimentation.

Constitutional mosaicism for a chromosome 9 inversion resulting in recombinant aneusomy in an offspring.

We report on a case of constitutional mosaicism for a large pericentric inversion of chromosome 9 in a man whose daughter had recombinant aneusomy resulting in partial 9q duplication and partial 9p deletion. At age 6 months, the girl was evaluated because of congenital anomalies [corrected] and developmental delay. Chromosomal analysis on this infant showed a derivative chromosome 9 which was later determined to be a recombinant chromosome with trisomy of 9q34.1-->qter and monosomy of pter-->9p24. Chromosomal analysis in her father showed the presence of two cell lines; 75% of lymphocytes had a 46,XY pattern, and 25% had a 46,XY,inv(9)(p24q34.1) karyotype. The infant's physical findings represent a composite of the reported cases of both trisomy 9q34.1-->qter and monosomy pter-->9p24. The infant's father was phenotypically and cognitively normal. This case broadens the spectrum of reported cases of mosaicism for an autosomal structural rearrangement generating unbalanced gametes, and further supports the tenet that constitutional mosaicism has clinical relevance for genetic counseling.

Cell senescence and a mechanism of clonal evolution leading to continuous cell proliferation, loss of heterozygosity, and tumor heterogeneity: studies on two immortal colon cancer cell lines.

Extensive karyotypic analysis was performed on early and late passages of two continuous human cell lines, SW480 and SW620, that were derived from the same colon cancer patient. We cultivated these two cell lines in vitro for a period of 24 months and periodically examined their chromosome constitution. SW480 cells, from passage 138, were injected subcutaneously into 20 nude mice. The tumors that grew in nude mice were then cultivated in vitro for several passages to compare histopathologic findings and tumor growth patterns with clonal chromosomal profiles. Despite some karyotypic diversity, the two cell lines exhibited common marker chromosomes and followed similar patterns of evolution. During subsequent passages, acquisition of new chromosomal abnormalities gave rise to sidelines with a near-diploid genome that frequently underwent endoreduplication. Genomic instability seemed to play an important role in the emergence, growth, and subsequent elimination of the heterogenous sidelines by selection, clonal expansion, and cell death by senescence. Despite continuous growth, both the cell lines occasionally showed telomeric associations and random dicentric and multicentric formations. These lesions were considered evidence of cell senescence and were related to the disappearance of particular sidelines through evolution. Successful evolutionary steps were characterized by elimination of pre-existing marker chromosomes that were subsequently replaced in the karyotype by their cytologically intact homologous chromosomes possibly after selective endoreduplication. Frequent loss of heterozygosity for the chromosomes taking part in this process is postulated. We suggest that one of the mechanisms by which cancer cells bypass senescence may be related to their potential for continuous clonal diversification.

Low-dose heparin treatment does not inhibit SW480 human colon cancer growth and metastasis in vivo.

We investigated heparin effects on the biological behavior of SW480 human colon adenocarcinoma cells in vivo. Tumor growth, pathological features, metastatic potential and karyotype, were studied after the twelve week low-dose heparin treatment of nude mice subcutaneously injected with SW480 cells. A non statistically significant increase in tumor growth was observed (0.05 < p < 0.1, compared to the control group). No differences in tumor histology and karyotype were detected. Two of the six heparin-treated animals exhibited an increase in tumor vascularization. Metastasis to the lungs and liver was not inhibited. These results do not support the role of heparin in the prevention of the in vivo growth and metastasis of SW 480 colon cancer cells.

In vitro effects of heparin on SW480 tumor cell-matrix interaction.

We investigated the in vitro effects of heparin on the growth and interaction of SW480 colon adenocarcinoma cells with the extracellular matrix proteins laminin, fibronectin and collagen IV. Cell adhesion assays were performed in wells precoated with the proteins mentioned. Tumor cell migration and invasiveness were assayed in Transwell cell culture chambers. SW480 cell adhesion to the matrix proteins and migration to laminin/fibronectin precoated filters were inhibited by heparin in a dose- dependent manner, whereas cell growth and invasion through collagen IV gel were not affected. Our results suggest that heparin influences the SW480 cell-matrix interaction in vitro and inhibits crucial steps of the metastatic process in an experimental model.

Chromosomal markers associated with metastasis in two colon cancer cell lines established from the same patient.

The purpose of this study was to identify specific chromosomal abnormalities that might be involved in colon cancer metastasis. For this reason, we performed extensive karyotypic analysis on two colon cancer cell lines (SW480 and SW620) established from two surgical biopsies taken at different intervals and representing different stages of the disease from the same patient. Despite the karyotypic heterogeneity, several marker chromosomes were shared between the two cell lines, indicating their common origin. We hypothesized that these shared chromosomal aberrations might be critical for the continuous growth of the tumor cells and, therefore, were retained through progression of the disease. Duplication of 16q and new or additional structural chromosomal abnormalities involving breakpoints 3p21, 8p11, 10q25, 13q14, 14q11 and 15q15 were observed as the characteristic anomalies only in the SW620 cell line. As SW620 was established from the abdominal metastatic lesion of the patient, we postulated that the acquisition of these new markers in the progression steps of the primary tumor might represent "hot-spots" that possibly contain genes crucial for metastatic potential in colon cancer.

Clonal evolution of an immunoblastic type non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with der(6)t(1;6)(q11;p11) as its primary cytogenetic abnormality.

Recurrent pleural effusions from a 45-year-old man who was diagnosed as having non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of immunoblastic type were studied cytogenetically. The majority of the metaphases were tetraploid, but there were also lymphoma cells observed with pseudodiploid chromosome constitutions. Cytogenetic analysis by G-banding revealed the existence of at least two cell populations. The karyotype of the minor pseudodiploid clone, which exhibited partial trisomy of 1q11qter and monosomy of 6p11pter as sole abnormalities, was 46,XY,der(6)t(1;6)(q11;p11). The karyotype of the major clone was 92,XXYY,-1,der(6)t(1;6)(q11;p11)x2, +9. The ancestral diploid clone, carrier of the balanced translocation involving chromosomes 1 and 6, was not observed even in the first pleural effusion harvest. The high proportion of tetraploid cells in the recurrent effusions was an indication that these cells were favorably selected in the environment of the somatic cavity. Our cytogenetic findings suggest that partial trisomy of 1q may be a crucial secondary chromosomal abnormality in highly malignant non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. This genetic imbalance was predetermined from the primary abnormality and may be responsible for further tumor progression, as suggested from the clonal evolution in this particular case and, therefore, may be associated with the aggressive biologic behavior of malignant cells.

Chromosome alterations in cancer development and apoptosis.

Normal somatic cells are programmed to die (or undergo apoptosis) whereas cancer cells program themselves to survive. Some of the cytogenetic alterations that might be involved in apoptosis and continuous cell proliferation of normal and cancer cells such as shortening of telomeres, formation of dicentric chromosomes, transfer of telomeric DNA to the homologous chromosomes, malfunction (inactivation) of the centromeres, endoreduplication of chromosomes and other structural and numerical chromosome abnormalities are discussed here.