Gene aberrations in childhood brain tumors.

ABSTRACT

We present the results of the examination of prognostic markers in 40 children suffering from brain tumors. Prognostic markers such as amplification of the N-myc and c-myc, deletion of the 17p, and DNA ploidy are indispensable factors for the determination of diagnosis. An increased number of c-myc gene copies was found in malignant brain tumors, especially embryonal, more often than reported in the literature. N-myc amplification occurs in our group seldom, but it seems to be a sign of worse prognosis in glial and embryonal brain tumors. DNA aneuploidy was not found very frequently, but in high-grade tumors only.