1. ¹Department of Pathology, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles County+University of Southern California Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA
2. ²Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, USA

Correspondence: R K Brynes, Department of Medicine, USC Keck School of Medicine, 2011 Zonal Avenue, HMR 209, Los Angeles, CA 90033 USA. E-mail: Brynes@usc.edu

Received 24 December 2001; Revised 10 April 2002; Accepted 12 April 2002.

Abstract

Synovial sarcoma shows a characteristic t(X;18) translocation but not the expected female predominance in incidence. We speculate that, among females, one X-chromosome is inactivated and that only the translocation to an active X-chromosome leads to development of synovial sarcoma. Population-based cancer registry data from the SEER program support this hypothesis.