Hamartomas, the most common benign human lung tumors, are mesenchymal tumors composed of hyaline cartilage, adipose tissue, smooth muscle and respiratory epithelium. Hamartoma mainly arise at middle age and men are affected twice as often as women.
They belong to the group of cytogenetically well characterized tumors. Common are aberrations involving chromosomal regions 6p21 or 12q14-15, especially translocations t(6;14) and t(12;14). Affected by these aberrations are e.g. members of the High Mobility Group Protein Genes (Kazmierczak et al., Oncogene 1996, 12: 515-521; Kazmierczak et al., Genes Chromosomes Cancer 1999, 26: 125-133).