SISTER CHROMATID EXCHANGES IN LYMPHOCYTE-CULTURES OF PATIENTS RECEIVING CHEMOTHERAPY FOR MALIGNANT DISORDERS

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  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 62  (10) , 1413-1419
Abstract
The frequency of sister chromatid exchange (SCE) was studied in peripheral lymphocytes of patients receiving chemotherapy for various malignant disorders. Significantly increased SCE frequencies were recorded in 6 patients 2-7 wk after CCNU [1-(2-chloroethyl)-3-cyclohexyl-1-nitrosourea] treatment and in 1 patient 2 wk after melphalan treatment. One patient treated with prednimustine and 1 treated with DTIC [dacarbazine] had SCE frequencies just within the upper limit of the control range 1-2 wk after therapy. Normal SCE frequencies were recorded in 9 patients studied at times varying from 3 days to several weeks after administration of cytostatic courses involving 5-fluorouracil, vincristine, adriamycin, cyclophosphamide, bleomycin, thioTEPA, methotrexate and prednimustine. Radiotherapy could not be causally related to increased SCE frequencies in any of the patients. CCNU and melphalan, in contrast to several other chemotherapeutic agents, apparently induce very long-lived DNA lesions, which may be of crucial importance for the development of secondary neoplasms.