Objective: To study the feasibility of interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in detection of chromosomal aneuploidy in bronchoscopically gained cells from lung cancer patients and early diagnosis of lung cancer.
Method: Cells gained from endobronchial brushings of 14 patients with lung cancer were examined by FISH with chromosomes 7, 8, 9 and 12 specific centromere probes.
Result: Aneuploidy, mainly featured in gains of chromosomes 7, 8 and 12 and loss of chromosome 9 were observed in all of the 7 cases with cells from endobronchial brushings diagnosed as or suspicious of cancer cells by cytology. Aneuploidies of chromosomes 7, 8, and 9 were found in 3 of other 7 cases that appeared to be normal by cytologic criteria.
Conclusion: Interphase FISH is feasible in detecting aneuploidy associated with malignancy in bronchoscopically gained cells that do not meet the criteria of malignancy by conventional cytologic study. This method may be applied to early diagnosis of lung cancer.