DNA damage in the peripheral blood lymphocytes of asthmatic patients in relation to disease progression

Abstract

With increased incidences in recent times especially in the urban population, asthma represents a major global concern. The inflammatory reaction of the airways in asthmatic patients leads to generation of reactive oxygen intermediates which interfere with the basic structure of DNA causing genomic instability. The present study was aimed to assess the DNA damage in the peripheral blood lymphocytes in asthmatic subjects. Blood samples from 95 asthmatic subjects and 57 controls were analysed for DNA damage using Comet assay. Statistical analysis was done using student’s t test and ANOVA. p < 0.05 was considered significant. Significant elevation was observed in % tail DNA (p < 0.05) in asthmatic subjects as compared to their non-asthmatic counterparts. Tail length, tail and olive moment were also markedly higher in asthmatics subjects (p < 0.05). The DNA damage was evidently higher in patients with severe asthma as compared to those with mild and moderate asthma (p < 0.05). The genomic instability was positively correlated with the age of subjects and severity of asthma which implied association of DNA damage with asthma and its progression with duration and severity.