DNA flow cytometry of human epidermal tumours

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Abstract
Tumour ploidy and proliferative characteristics can be estimated by flow cytometric measurements of the nuclear DNA content. This study considers the question whether human epidermal tumours are intrinsically homogeneous with regard to these properties, i.e. whether a single biopsy analysed by flow cytometry is representative of the entire tumour. Analyses of multiple biopsies from ten human epidermal tumours — two kerato-acanthomas (KA), two basal cell carcinomas (BCC), two basosquamous carcinomas (BSC), one Bowen’s disease (BO) and three squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) — indicated that both ploidy and proliferation characteristics were reproducible and specific for theperipheries of the different tumours regardless of the histopathologic diagnosis. The tumourcentres, however, may deviate considerably from the corresponding periphery. None of the ten tumour peripheries contained more than one cell clone, but six of the ten clones were aneuploid. Both the BO and the KA’s were hypodiploid, while one SCC, one BSC and one BCC were hyperdiploid as assessed in their peripheries. The remaining BSC was diploid in its periphery, while both a hypodiploid and a hypotetraploid cell clone were found in the corresponding centre.