Karyotypic Variation In Benign Pleomorphic Adenoma Of The Parotid And In Normal Salivary Glands

Abstract

Numerical and structural karyotypic variation was found in cells cultured in vitro from 6 benign mixed tumours (pleomorphic adenoma) of the human parotid gland. Three submaxillary glands with chronic sialadenitis and 6 histologically normal salivary glands from subjects with neoplasms of the upper aero-digestive tract were studied originally as controls, but found to display a similar degree of karyotypic variation, mainly due to gain and/or loss of - E- and - G-like chromosomes. Normal karyotypes were found in the normal salivary glands from 2 subjects with other conditions. The hypothesis is put forward that salivary gland tissue is liable to karyotypic variation for the presence of some factor(s) in vivo and/or its activation in vitro.