title: Are thyroid cancer patients sensitive to ionising radiation?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the ionising radiation sensitivity of peripheral blood lymphocytes in a group of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 53 thyroid cancer patients (26 women and 27 men) and 50 donors (23 women and 27 men) were included in the study. The cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay (CBMN) in G0 peripheral blood lymphocytes was carried out using the cytochalasin B technique. Four cultures were established per each donor, two were irradiated with 0.5 Gy 137Cs g-rays, while the other two remained untreated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No significant differences were observed in the frequency of binucleated cells with micronuclei (BNMN) between patients and controls, for both spontaneous and after the irradiation frequencies. Nevertheless, a positive and significant correlation was found between the frequencies of both spontaneous and after irradiation DNA damage, for control and patient groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We have found that DTC patients do not present particular sensitivity to ionising radiation when an in vitro treatment is performed in G0 stage of the cell cycle, but this result does not discard the hypothesis about an increased sensitivity in other stages of the cell cycle in DTC patients.
authors: Grup de Mutagènesi, Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra.
authors: Wilser-Andrés
authors: WA
authors: García-Quispes
authors: Giselle
authors: G
authors: Pérez-Machado
authors: Berenice
authors: B
authors: Sandoval
authors: Susana
authors: S
authors: Pastor
authors: Antonia
authors: A
authors: Velázquez
authors: Pere
authors: P
authors: Galofré
authors: Josefina
authors: J
authors: Biarnés
authors: Joan
authors: J
authors: Castell
authors: Ricard
authors: R
authors: Marcos