Isochromosome (8q) in four patients with adenocarcinoma of the lung

We report an isochromosome, i(8q), in combination with many other cytogenetic changes in tumor cells from four patients with lung cancer. In each case, the tumor subtype was adenocarcinoma. This isochromosome has not been identified in primary tumors from patients with other histological types of lung cancer. Among the few previously reported cytogenetic analyses of pulmonary adenocarcinomas, i(8q) has been observed in four additional patients. Therefore, i(8q) represents a recurring change in this specific type of lung cancer. In addition to i(8q), tumor cells from each of our four patients had different abnormalities of 17p, and two patients had alterations of 3p as well.