Comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) was employed to survey genomic regions with increased and decreased copy number of the DNA sequence in 15 endometrial cancers [10 cases with microsatellite instability positive (MI+) and 5 cases with MI-]. Twelve of these 15 tumors (80%) showed abnormalities in copy number at one or more of the chromosomal regions. There were no regions with frequent chromosomal losses. Conversely, 11 of 15 cases (73%) showed gains on chromosome arms 1q (8/15; 53%) and/or 8q (6/15; 40%). Concordant gains of both chromosome arms 1q and 8q were observed in all three endometrial cancers of histological grade 3. These results suggest that these two chromosomal regions may contain genes whose increased expression contributes to development and/or progression of endometrial carcinogenesis. Two cases were further analyzed by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) using three probes on chromosome 1 and two probes on chromosome 8 to more accurately determine increases in copy number. We found gains of chromosome 1q to 2.9-3.6 copies per cell and on 8q to 4.4 copies per cell.