Relationship between gene amplification and chromosomal deviations in malignant human gliomas.

Biopsies of 33 malignant human gliomas were karyotyped and evaluated for amplification (more than eight gene copies per cell) of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), N-myc, c-myc, and gli genes by Southern blot analysis. Fifteen of 33 tumors showed amplification of EGFR, none had amplified c-myc, one tumor had amplified N-myc, and one had amplification of gli. Thirteen of the 16 (81%) evaluable tumors with gene amplification contained double minutes (DM), and only four of 16 (25%) tumors without demonstrable amplification contained these structures. Polysomy for chromosome #7, in contrast, occurred in 58% of tumors with EGFR amplification and 53% of tumors without amplification of the gene. Structural abnormalities of 7p occurred in two tumors with EGFR amplification and in one tumor without amplification of this gene. These studies suggest that DM are the usual locus for amplified genes (usually EGFR) in human glioma biopsies, but that structural abnormalities of 7p may be associated with EGFR amplification in a small proportion of these tumors. The presence of polysomy 7, however, probably is unrelated to amplification of the EGFR gene.