Cytogenetic studies may provide important clues to the molecular pathogenesis of thyroid neoplasia. Thus, the authors attempted cytogenetic studies on 12 thyroid carcinomas: seven papillary, three follicular, and two anaplastic. Successful cytogenetic results were obtained on all 12 tumors; nine (75%) had one or more chromosomally abnormal clones. Four of the papillary carcinomas had a simple clonal karyotype, and three had no apparent chromosome abnormality. All four abnormal papillary tumors contained an anomaly of a chromosome 10q arm. In one instance, an inv(10)(q11.2q21.2) was observed in a Grade 2 papillary carcinoma as the sole acquired abnormality. In another case, an inversion or insertion involving 10q21.2 was found in a Grade 1 papillary tumor. The karyotype of a third tumor, a Grade 1 papillary carcinoma, was 46,XX,der(5)t(5;10)(p15.3;q11),der(9)t(9;?)(q11;?). A fourth abnormal papillary carcinoma, a Grade 1 tumor, had a t(6;10)(q21;q26.1) as the sole abnormality. Each of the five follicular or anaplastic carcinomas had a complex clonal karyotype. The three follicular carcinomas contained an abnormality of 3p25-p21, along with several other chromosome abnormalities.
Adenocarcinoma Adenocarcinoma, Papillary