title: DNA damage by tobacco smoke and some antiblastic drugs evaluated using the Comet assay.
abstract: The Comet assay was used in human leukocytes to detect, in vivo, DNA strand-breaks induced by smoking habit to evaluate the test sensitivity to an environmental factor, and by several antiblastic drugs to note their effectiveness at single cell level. Differences related to smoking habit, gender and age are evident. Melphalan shows the widest DNA damage. The damage induced by etoposide can be ascribed to the balancing between the production of strand-breaks and cross-links which limit the migration of DNA fragments. Interferon, fludarabine, prednisone, and oncocarbide appear to induce unexpected strand-breaks. Single cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE) is highly effective in revealing the association between DNA damage and environmental, genetic, and acquired factors, providing further data on the possible applicability of this assay in genotoxic human surveillance in addition to established tests. Moreover, the ability to point out cell subpopulations varying in mean damage levels could allow detection of potentially emerging drug-resistant populations.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Genetica, Università degli Studi di Parma, Italy. mutgen@unipr.it
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Poli
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Buschini
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Spaggiari
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rizzoli
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carlo-Stella
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rossi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000633:toxicity; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D004249:DNA Damage; D004586:Electrophoresis / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009152:Mutagenicity Tests; D010947:Plants, Toxic; D012737:Sex Factors; D012906:Smoke / Q000032:analysis; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D012906:Smoke