Recently, the gene for the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor has been mapped to chromosome 7p, the short arm of chromosome 7 [Shimizu, N., Kondo, I., Gamou, M. A., Behzadian, A. & Shimizu, Y. (1984) Somatic Cell Mol. Genet. 10, 45-53]. Utilizing EGF binding in saturation studies, karyology, and cDNA hybridization experiments, we have sought to determine whether there is a correlation between dosage or alteration of chromosome 7 and enhanced expression of EGF receptor in cultured human pancreatic carcinoma cells. Saturation binding studies with 125I-labeled EGF were performed at 4 degrees C with four established human pancreatic cancer cell lines: T3M4, PANC-1, COLO 357, and UACC-462. Analysis of binding data revealed enhanced numbers of EGF receptors in all four cell lines. Chromosome banding analysis revealed clonal structural alterations of chromosome 7p in the cell lines T3M4, PANC-1, and COLO 357, whereas UACC-462 displayed multiple copies of chromosome 7. Hybridization studies using a radiolabeled EGF receptor cDNA probe failed to demonstrate DNA sequence amplification in any cell line but confirmed the presence of EGF receptor mRNA in these cells in approximate proportion to EGF receptor number. Our results suggest that enhanced expression of EGF receptor in human pancreatic cancer can be associated with either structural or numerical alterations of chromosome 7.