Cytogenetic findings in benign and malignant oral tumors - The role of autologous human plasma

The present study examined the possible use of autologous human plasma (AHP) to improve the in vitro culture for cytogenetics of benign and malignant oral tumor cells. The effect of AHP on the growth of a variety of benign and malignant head and neck tumor cells was studied by inverted microscope and cytogenetic analysis. Minced tumor biopsies of cases of hemangioma (HM), lipoma (LP), central giant cell granuloma (GC), pleomorphic adenoma (PA), schwannoma (SW), oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), Ewing sarcoma (ES), Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) and adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC), were cultured in medium supplemented with either AHP, allogeneic pooled human plasma (PHP), or fetal calf serum (FCS). More fibroblasts were seen in the FCS supplemented cultures, while in HP or PHP culture medium, more epithelial-like tumor cells were noted. The karyotypes of HM, LP, GC and PA were normal in all 3 different mediums. Cytogenetic analysis of SW and SCC revealed random numerical changes in all cultures. However, in AHP cultures a clone bearing translocation was found in SW t(2;13). In the SCC cultures one tumor had t(12;14) and the other t(3;21) translocations. Complex karyotype was found in all kinds of cultures in ES, MCC and ACC. AHP by itself does not cause chromosomal aberrations but may improve the ability to find chromosomal aberrations in some tumors over medium containing FCS. The spectrum of oral tumors where AHP can improve the cytogenetic analyses should be further studied on a greater number of tumors.