We have used the molecular cytogenetic techniques of multicolor fluorescence in situ hybridization (M-FISH) and comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) to analyze two established lung cancer cell lines (A549, H520), 80 primary lung adenocarcinoma samples and 80 squamous cell lung carcinoma samples in order to identify common chromosomal aberrations. M-FISH revealed numerous complex chromosomal rearrangements. Chromosomes 5, 6, 11, 12, and 17 were most frequently involved in interchromosomal translocations. CGH revealed regions on 1q, 2p, 3q, 5p, 5q, 7p, 8q, 11q, 12q, 14q, 16p, 17p, 19q, 20q, 21q and 22q to be commonly over-represented and regions on 2q, 3p, 4p, 5q, 7q, 8p, 9p, 13q, 14q, and 17p to be under-represented. In lung adenocarcinomas the most common gains were found in 16p13 (50%); while in squamous cell lung carcinomas the common gains were found in 17q21 (45%) and these alterations were observed to be associated with their specific pathological subtype. In conclusion, the present study contributes to the molecular biological characterization in lung adenocarcinomas and squamous cell lung carcinomas and through evaluation of molecular events to the recently emergent focus on novel markers for lung cancer treatment.