The application of comparative genomic hybridization

The majority of human tumors as well as many developmental abnormalities harbor chromosomal imbalances,many of which result from the gain and/or loss of genomic material.Conventional comparative genomic hybridization(CGH) has been used extensively to map DNA copy number changes to chromosomal positions.The recent introduction of microarray comparative genomic hybridization(CGHa) provides a powerful tool to precisely detect and quantify genomic subtle deletions or duplications.This paper reviews the principle and application of CGH and CGHa.