Cytogenetic analysis in peripheral blood lymphocytes from asthmatic patients with different severity

Abstract

We aimed to investigate the peculiarities of chromosomal as well as DNA-repair alterations in lymphocytes of asthmatic patients with different severity. <b>Patients and Methods:</b> We examined 123 asthmatic patients aged 15-70 years. The frequencies of chromosomal aberrations (CA) and sister-chromatid exchanges (SCE) as well as the rates of spontaneous and UV-induced unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS) were evaluated in peripheral blood lymphocytes. Index of stimulation (IS) of DNA repair was determined as the ratio of UV-induced to spontaneous UDS values. The control group consisted of 35 healthy subjects. <b>Results:</b> We observed the significant (p &lt; 0.02) elevation of CA and SCE frequencies and spontaneous UDS levels in asthmatic patients as compared with healthy controls. The IS values were found to be significantly (p &lt; 0.001) lower in patients as compared to the control group. The CA rates were established to be significantly (p&lt;0.05) higher in patients with severe asthma than in those with mild to moderate condition both in allergic (9.3 ± 0.95% and 5.3± 0.58%, respectively) and in non-allergic phenotype (8.6 ± 0.71% and 6.4± 0.55%, respectively). The significantly higher levels of spontaneous UDS (3.8 ± 0.43% and 2.4± 0.26%, respectively, p &lt; 0.01) and significantly lower values of IS (1.9 ± 0.21 and 3.6± 0.38, respectively, p &lt; 0.01) were established in patients with severe asthma than in those with mild to moderate condition in allergic phenotype. <b>Conclusion:</b> The data obtained suggest that cytogenetic alterations revealed in asthmatic patients may partly depend on asthma severity.