Chromosomal damage in peripheral blood lymphocytes of newly diagnosed cancer patients and healthy controls
Abstract
Background: The majority of human cancers arise from cells unable to maintain genomic stability. Recent prospective studies indicated that enhanced chromosomal aberrations (CAs) frequencies are predictive of gastrointestinal and lung cancers.
However, studies on incident cancer patients are lacking; thus, we investigated chromosomal damage in newly diagnosed cancer patients and healthy individuals. Methods: We analyzed chromosomal damage in peripheral blood lymphocytes in a group of 300 incident cancer patients (with different malignancies) in comparison with 300 healthy controls.
Results and Conclusions: The frequencies of aberrant cells (ACs) and CAs were significantly higher in patients (2.38 +/- 1.56 and 2.53 +/- 1.69, respectively) as compared with controls (1.81 +/- 1.31 and 1.94 +/- 1.47, respectively, P < 0.01).