Persistence of chromosome aberrations in peripheral lymphocytes from Hodgkin's lymphoma remission patients

Abstract

Purpose : To analyse spontaneous and in vitro bleomycin-induced chromosome aberrations in peripheral lymphocytes taken from Hodgkin's disease patients after prolonged (up to 31 years) remission periods, and to consider these data from the point of view of the carcinogenic potential of anticancer therapy. Materials and methods : Conventional analysis of chromosome preparations stained with azure-eosin. Results : The mean frequency and patterns of both spontaneous and induced aberrations in remission patients were significantly different from comparison groups (healthy donors and primary Hodgkin's disease patients). Individual values were characterized with high variation and did not show correlation with post-therapy time. New cancer cases diagnosed in remission patients were more frequent in subjects with high chromosome sensitivity to in vitro bleomycin challenge than in patients whose sensitivity to bleomycin was at a control level. Conclusions : The results are interpreted as suggesting that the tumorigenic potential of radiochemotherapy is mediated via induction of genetic instability in exposed cells. Long after the therapy, the instability may become an initiating event in the development of new malignancies in affected tissues, whereas the instability induced in haemopoietic stem cells may reveal itself in peripheral lymphocytes derived from formerly exposed precursors.