title: Investigating the genetic instability in the peripheral lymphocytes of 36 untreated lung cancer patients with comet assay and micronucleus assay.
abstract: The aim of present investigation was to study the genetic instability in peripheral lymphocytes of lung cancer patients. The micronucleus (MN) assay and comet assay were simultaneously used to detect the spontaneous genetic change and ionizing irradiation (IR) induced genetic damage in peripheral lymphocytes from 36 lung cancer patients and 30 controls. In MN assay, the results of both two indicators, micronucleated cell frequency (MCF) and micronucleus frequency (MNF), indicated that the average values of MCF, MNF and IR-induced MCF, MNF of lung cancer patients were 9.25+/-0.58, 10.17+/-0.72, 66.14+/-2.07 and 75.64+/-2.34 per thousand, respectively, which were significantly higher than those (6.10+/-0.65, 6.60+/-0.74, 60.50+/-1.71 and 67.60+/-2.13 per thousand) of controls (P<0.05 or 0.01). In comet assay, the results of mean tail moment (MTM) and IR-MTM showed 0.84+/-0.07 and 1.09+/-0.11, respectively, which were significantly higher than those (0.60+/-0.05 and 0.70+/-0.10) of controls (P<0.05). However, the difference between lung cancer group and control group for the mean tail length (MTL) and IR-MTL was not significant (P>0.05). The results of present investigation indicated that the genetic instability in peripheral lymphocytes of 36 lung cancer patients was significantly higher than that of controls.
authors.affiliation: Zhejiang University, Medical College, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Hangzhou 310058, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jianlin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lou
authors.forename: Jiliang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Lifen
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Zhijian
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Shijie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yongxing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Shijie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002478:Cells, Cultured / Q000528:radiation effects; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D020552:Comet Assay; D004249:DNA Damage; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007259:Infrared Rays; D008168:Lung / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000473:pathology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D008297:Male; D048629:Micronuclei, Chromosome-Defective; D015162:Micronucleus Tests; D008875:Middle Aged