Clonal Analysis of Fibroadenoma and Phyllodes TYimor of the Breast

Clonality uf Fibroadenoma and phyllodes tumor of the breast was an alyzed by means of the polymerase chain reaction using small DNA sam ples prepared from cryostat sections. The method of clonal analysis was based on restriction fragment length polymorphism of X-chromosomelinked phosphoglycerokinase gene and on differential methylation of the gene. Specimens from 10 fibroadenomas and 5 phyllodes tumors heterozy gous for the Bst\l polymorphism of PGK gene were subjected to clonal analysis. It was found that fibroadenoma was polyclonal, but phyllodes tumor was made up of both monoclonal and polyclonal cell components. Since these tumors contained both epithelial and stromal components, clonality of each component was analyzed separately. Analysis of clonality of each cell component showed that both the epithelial and stromal cells were polyclonal in fibroadenoma and that the epithelial cells were poly clonal, but the stromal cells were monoclonal in phyllodes tumor. When DNA samples were prepared from widely separated sites of phyllodes tumors, every sample was found to contain a monoclonal stromal cell component. These results demonstrate that fibroadenoma is a hyperplastic lesion rather than a neoplasm, and that phyllodes tumor is a neoplasm of the stromal cells.