Fig. 3.

Chromosome breaks frequently liberate whole arms Copy number analysis of 844 liver carcinomas (A) and 1827 head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (B) were retrieved from the Progenetix database (90). For each type of carcinoma, gains are indicated in green (right) and losses in red (left). Blue lines indicate centromere positions. Chromosomes that bear evidence of centromere fission are indicated with an arrow. Analysis of 3131 profiles showed a similar preference for whole arm gains and losses in a wide range of carcinomas (43). The biphasic pattern of chromosome 11q probably is a result of whole arm amplification followed by loss of the distal segment.