CHROMOSOMAL INSTABILITY IN PERIPHERAL LYMPHOCYTES OF HEPATITIS B AND HEPATOMA PATIENTS
DAE-KWANG KIM *
Department of Anatomy & Medical Genetics, Keimyung University, Taegu-700 310, Korea
SUNG-IK CHANG *
Department of Anatomy & Medical Genetics, Keimyung University, Taegu-700 310, Korea
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The chronic hepatitis B patients with HBsAg positive had a significantly higher SCE frequencies than the normal controls (p<0.01). The SCE frequencies in both hepatoma patients with HBsAg positive and negative were also significantly higher than controls (p<0.01). However there were no significant differences in SCE among chronic hepatitis B patients and hepatoma patients with HBsAg positive and with HBsAg negative (p>0.05). Observations on fragile sites using BudR and FudR also revealed differences 6% and 9% in control group while 30% and 33% in hepatoma patients. Therefore this study suggests that high frequencies of SCE and fragile sites may reveal chromosomal instability in peripheral lymphocytes of patients with chronic hepatitis B and hepatoma.
Keywords: Sister-chromatid exchange, Hepatitis B surface antigen Fragile site, Chromosomal instability