Nonrandom chromosome abnormalities in cancer: An overview

This chapter discusses neoplastic karyotypes. It emphasizes the difference between primary and secondary changes and address the questions of why, how, when, and where chromosome abnormalities arise; compare numerical and structural aberrations in terms of how they contribute to tumor development; and also touch upon the issues of what causes cancer-associated chromosome abnormalities and whether they are necessary and/or sufficient to transform a normal cell into a cancer cell. It discusses some of the more principal differences between the cytogenetic and molecular genetic approaches to the study of acquired somatic cell mutations. Numerous specific chromosomal abnormalities have been detected in almost all tumor types that have been examined. This chapter explores when do chromosome aberrations arise and in which cells do chromosome aberrations arise. It also discusses whether acquired chromosome aberrations are sufficient for neoplastic proliferation. The chapter discusses the general effects of structural and numerical chromosome abnormalities.