Chromosome Y
aneuploidies have been reported as one of the recurrent cytogenetic findings in
prostate cancer (PCa) and many other solid and hematological
tumors. We have studied this
aneuploidy in 28 patients with PCa undergoing radical
prostatectomy, one patient with benign
hyperplasia (BPH) and four organ donors. A total of 72 samples have been studied: 17
tumors, 25 nontumor prostate tissues, 1 BPH, 21 seminal vesicles samples obtained along with the prostate when patients underwent radical
prostatectomy and prostate tissues and seminal vesicles from four organ donors. We have also studied the
aneuploidy of chromosome Y in peripheral blood from four of the patients and in seminal vesicles of 11 individuals with
bladder cancer (BC). The study has been performed by Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in uncultured cells. Our results indicate that complete loss of chromosome Y is found in almost all the seminal vesicles both from patients with PCa and patients with BC (samples obtained from the tissue bank), and is more frequent in prostate
tumors than in nontumor samples. The percentages of chromosome Y loss in the tissues analyzed are significatively higher than expected in lymphocytes considering the patient's age as reported in the literature. The high percentage of chromosome Y loss found in the nonmalignant seminal vesicles of these patients may be an
indicator of an ageing process rather than a primary cytogenetic alteration in the
carcinogenesis of the prostate. However, a contribution of this loss to
chromosomal instability and therefore, to the multistep tumorigenic process, cannot be discarded.