• 1 January 1983
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 3  (6) , 367-372
Abstract
Lymphocyte cultures were treated with bleomycin to determine if individuals who exhibit a high rate of spontaneous chromosome breakage also show an exaggerated response to clastogenic agents. Patients with medullary thyroid carcinoma and their immediate family members were studied. Lymphocytes from these individuals tend to show high rates of spontaneous chromosome breakage. The average bleomycin-induced breakage rate in this group was significantly higher than that found in the normal controls. In the control group, the distribution of breakage rates was bimodal, with mean values of 0.68 breaks per cell in 1 group, and 1.84 breaks per cell in the other. The high rate of induced breakage shown by phenotypically normal subjects may mean that these individuals have a potential sensitivity to mutagen exposure.