Cytogenetic Background of Diagnostic / Prognostic DNA-Karyometry

Abstract

Subjective microscopical morphologic diagnosis and grading the malignancy of tumors reveals some shortcomings in very early stages of their development (low positive predictive value) and in grading their malignancy (low reproducibility and limited prognostic validity). Detecting the DNA-cytometric equivalent of clonal chromosomal aneuploidy (= DNA-stemline-aneuploidy) helps to identify malignant transformation earlier than microscopic morphology by cytology or histology alone. Quantifying the number and deviation of cytogenetically abnormal cell clones (equivalent = number and c-values of abnormal DNAstemlines) allow a more valid and more reproducible grading of malignancy in many types of cancer (e.g. of the prostate). We here describe the equivalence of respective terms, used in cancer cytogenetics and DNA-cytometry resp. -karyometry. Therapeutic consequences of the cytometric detection of single-cell- or stemline-DNA-aneuploidy are proposed.