Noninvolvement of a constitutional heritable fragile site at 10q24.2 in rearranged chromosomes from rectal carcinoma cells.

A fragile site in chromosome band 10q24.2 was found in the lymphocytes of a patient ascertained for rectal carcinoma. The karyotype of 110 R-banded tumor cells was performed, showing two stemline formulas: 46,XXY,-1,-18,+20,der(6),t(1;6)(q21.1;q22.3),i(17q) and 46,XY,-1,-18,+8,+20,der(6),t(1;6),del(2)(p1600p22),i(17q). These findings are in agreement with our previous studies, which reported that the rearrangement of chromosome #17 and the loss of chromosome #18 are recurrent anomalies in colorectal carcinomas. In addition to these rearrangements, other anomalies were occasionally observed in tumor cells, but no breakages nor rearrangements involving band 10q24.2. The relationships between fragile sites and cancer breakpoints are discussed.