The aim of this study was to characterise cytogenetically, breast cancer cell lines and primary tumours to identify chromosomal regions of interest in breast cancer. Multicolour fluorescence in situ hybridization (MFISH) and comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) were used to karyotype five established breast cancer cell lines and two short-term primary tumour cultures. Chromosome 8 was identified as a frequent target for aberrations in all cell lines and one primary culture by MFISH and CGH. CGH identified frequent gains of 1q (all samples) and 14q (all cell lines) and deletion of 22q (all samples). MFISH revealed a t(9;17) translocation in both primary tumours and the T47D cell line. MFISH analysis of the cell lines revealed a significant number of translocations previously unidentified in other studies using similar techniques, highlighting the necessity of utilising data from both primary cultures and established cell lines when investigating complex cytogenetic aberrations using MFISH and CGH.

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