Duplication or deletion of large segments of chromosome is known to play a role in a variety of diseases, from Down syndrome to many cancers. These alterations can lead to the loss of necessary genes or the production of a large amount of extra protein.
Researchers in the pathology department at the Hopkins School of Medicine recently analyzed pancreatic cancer cells for chromosomal changes. They used a technique called comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) to search for alterations.
In CGH, chromosomes from diseased cells (such as tumor cells) and normal cells are extracted and labelled with different fluorescent dyes. The chromosomes then hybridize, or bind, with normal unlabelled chromosomes. By measuring fluorescence levels in diseased-normal and normal-normal chromosome pairs, scientists can determine whether duplications or deletions are present.
The Hopkins group detected a large number of common changes, particularly affecting chromosome 18, which may contain one or more risk genes for pancreatic cancer. These changes may turn out to be common causes of pancreatic cancer.
