Identification of cryptic microaberrations in osteosarcoma by high-definition oligonucleotide array comparative genomic hybridization

Osteosarcoma (OS) is an aggressive bone tumor characterized by complex abnormal karyotypes and a high level of genomic instability. Using high-resolution array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH), a novel class of localized copy number variations called microaberrations has been detected. These genomic anomalies typically involve DNA imbalances affecting 700 kb to 1 Mb DNA, and are often associated with some type of genetic syndromes. Because the origin of instability in OS is poorly understood, we used aCGH to determine whether microaberrations were a characteristic of four OS cell lines: U-2 OS, HOS, MG-63, and SAOS-2. TP53 is mutated in SAOS-2, a line in which 17 microaberrations were found. In contrast, U-2 OS, which has a wild-type TP53, had only six such anomalies, the lowest incidence. A 500-kb microaberration within a region of gain at 5p15.33 in SAOS-2 was confirmed by fluorescence in situ hybridization. Significantly, this genomic location is close to the TERT gene, a region of gain in all four cell lines. To our knowledge, this is the first systematic analysis of the incidence of microaberrations in OS. The high levels of these anomalies detected suggest that the instability processes in OS that lead to a highly abnormal karyotypes may also be associated with acquisition of genomic microaberrations.