Non-random chromosome gains in human lymphoblastoid cell lines

HUMAN lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from the peripheral blood lymphocytes of healthy donors are commonly diploid when examined in the early months after establishment but acquire chromosome abnormalities on prolonged culture. Other lines, notably those derived from Burkitt's lymphoma tissue, may display chromosome aberrations from the outset 1–5 . A partial translocation 8q−14q+ has been demonstrated in the majority of Burkitt lymphoma-derived lines 5,6 and data on the karyotypes of some human tumours suggest that non-random gains and/or losses of chromosomes may be a feature, in particular, of certain leukaemias and lymphomas 7–13 . As the emergence of an aneuploid clone from a previously diploid lymphoblastoid line may be associated with other changes suggesting the development of a more ‘malignant’ phenotype 14 , it is relevant to compare the chromosome aberrations detected in such lines with the human tumour data. We have therefore undertaken a study of banded karyotypes of eighty EB virus-carrying human lymphoblastoid lines. The first stage of this analysis is concerned only with gains and losses of whole chromosomes or chromosome arms and the data presented here establish that, considering all the lines together, there have been nonrandom gains of five autosomes (numbers 3, 7, 8, 9 and 12) and of the sex chromosomes.