The determination and comparison of genotypic combinations at genomic loci in normal and tumour tissues from patients with various types of cancer have defined the chromosomal locations of loci at which recessive mutations play a role in disease. The predisposing nature of some of these mutant alleles is exemplified in studies of retinoblastoma and osteogenic sarcoma. These two clinically associated diseases share a pathogenetically causal predisposition that maps to chromosome position 13q14. A similar mechanism at 11p15.5 is involved in the development of the embryonal variant of rhabdomyo-sarcoma, Wilms' tumour and hepatoblastoma. Finally, genomic alteration of chromosome 10 is apparent in glioblastomas and mixed tumours of glioblastoma/astrocytoma grade III but not in homogenous astrocytoma grades II or III, suggesting the definition of a locus involved in tumour progression and, perhaps, an approach to molecular genetic staging of tumours.