UTERINE STROMAL SARCOMA CELL-LINE - A CYTOGENETIC AND ELECTRON-MICROSCOPIC STUDY

Uterine sarcomas constitute approximately 3% of all malignant uterine corpus tumors. Of these, the tumors that originate solely in the stromal elements of the uterine wall are relatively infrequent and have not been well characterized cytogenetically. We report data from a low-grade endometrial stromal sarcoma both at the time of resection and after months in long-term tissue culture. Cytogenetic analysis showed a clonal population of cells with an abnormal karyotype of 46,XX,del[5][q31.1], der[7]t[6;7][p21;p22] which remained unchanged in long-term culture. Electron microscopy suggests that these cells are similar to other neoplastic cells in having immature-appearing nuclei surrounded by a relatively mature cytoplasm [with well-developed organelles]. Determination of the specificity of these observations must await study of additional stromal sarcomas.