Abstract
Chromosome abnormalities in five solid tumors which occur predominantly in children and young adults are described. Four of the tumors are associated with rearrangements involving particular chromosome segments: deletion 13q14 in retinoblastoma, deletion 11p13 in Wilms' tumor, deletions/rearrangements of 1p (distal to band 1p31) in neuroblastoma, and translocation 22/autosome in Ewing sarcoma. Though aneuploidy for a number of chromosomes may occur in the fifth tumor, rhabdomyosarcoma, it has yet to be associated with a consistent marker arrangement. A general classification of chromosome abnormalities in cancer is presented. Possible roles for the gene changes produced by each class of chromosome abnormality in the development of cancer are discussed.