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Cyclin E amplification and overexpression have recently been described in several tumour types. However, many tumour entities have never been examined for cyclin E alterations. Numerous and time-consuming experiments were previously required to determine the significance of potential oncogenes across different tumour types. To overcome this problem, tissue microarrays (TMAs) consisting of 3670 primary tumours from 128 different tumour types, 709 metastases, and 354 normal tissues were generated. Cyclin E alterations were then analysed by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC). Cyclin E gene amplification was observed in 15 different tumour types and subtypes, ie rhabdomyosarcoma, urinary bladder cancer (three subtypes), ovarian cancer (two subtypes), malignant fibrous histiocytoma, adenocarcinoma of the small intestine, medullary breast cancer, gall bladder adenocarcinoma, phaeochromocytoma, gastric adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix, colonic adenocarcinoma, and endometrial carcinoma. Cyclin E protein accumulation was found in 48 different tumour types. The use of TMA technology has enabled us to expand considerably our knowledge of cyclin E alterations in human tumours. The occurrence of amplification and overexpression in many different tumour types suggests that cyclin E plays an important role in tumour biology.

The outcome of patients with renal cell carcinoma is limited by the development of metastasis after nephrectomy. To evaluate the genetic basis underlying metastatic progression of human renal cell carcinoma in vivo, we performed a comparative genomic hybridization analysis in 32 clear-cell renal-cell carcinoma metastases. The most common losses involved chromosomes 3p (25%), 4q (28%), 6q (28%), 8p (31%), and 9p (47%). The most common gains were detected at 17q (31%) and Xq (28%). There was one high-level gene amplification at chromosome 11q22-23. The mean number of aberrations in lymph node (4.8 +/- 2.8) and lung metastases (6.2 +/- 4.0) was lower than in other hematogenous metastases (11.5 +/- 8.7, P < 0.05), suggesting that hematogenous dissemination is linked to an acquisition of complex genomic alterations. As genetic differences between primary tumors and metastases give information on genetic changes that have contributed to the metastatic process, relative DNA sequence copy number changes in 19 matched tumor pairs were compared. Genomic changes, which frequently occurred in metastases but not in the corresponding primary tumor were losses of 8p and 9p and gains of 17q and Xq. An abnormal function of genes in these regions may contribute to the metastatic process. According to a statistical analysis of shared genetic changes in matched tumor pairs, a high probability of a common clonal progenitor was found in 11 of 19 patients (58%). Six metastases (32%) were genetically almost completely different from the primary, suggesting that detection of genomic alterations in primary tumors gives only a restricted view of the biological properties of metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

Development and progression of cancer is driven by a step-wise accumulation of genetic alterations. Activation of oncogenes and other growth-promoting genes is an important part of this process and gene amplification is one of the mechanisms that leads to the activation of such genes. Several different chromosomal regions have been shown to be frequently amplified in human tumors and, in some instances, subsequent studies have successfully identified genes from these amplified regions that have a critical role in cancer development.

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