High frequency of telomeric association in a family with multiple congenital neoplasia.

Chromosomal analysis of the peripheral blood cultures of a married couple whose second pregnancy gave birth to twin daughters with multiple congenital malignancies revealed normal karyotypes of 46,XX and 46,XY, respectively. However, in the father's blood, 23.3% of metaphases showed telomere-telomere associations involving single-single and double-double chromatids. Such associations were not observed in the metaphases of the mother. We speculate from these observations that the father's genotype may somehow be responsible for the congenital malignancies in their twin daughters.