Chromosome aberrations as a predictor of clinical outcome for smoking associated lung cancer

• Published in: Cancer letters 2000-09, Vol.158 (1), p.65-71
• Main Authors: El-Zein, Randa, Abdel-Rahman, Sherif Z, Conforti-Froes, Nivea, Alpard, Scott K, Zwischenberger, Jospeh B
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Biological and medical sciences; Chromosome Aberrations; Female; Fluorescence in situ hybridization; Genetic Markers; Grades; Histoplathology; Humans; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; Lung cancer; Lung Neoplasms - blood; Lung Neoplasms - etiology; Lung Neoplasms - genetics; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Staging; Pneumology; Prognosis; Smoking; Smoking - adverse effects; Smoking - blood; Stages; Tumors of the respiratory system and mediastinum
• ISSN: 0304-3835; 1872-7980
• DOI: 10.1016/S0304-3835(00)00503-6

The ability to identify individuals at greatest risk of developing lung cancer can significantly enhance the efficacy of intervention modalities. One strategy for identifying these individuals is through biomarkers that reflect the severity of their cancer. In the present study, we evaluated 22 lung cancer patients and 35 controls to determine whether the frequency of chromosome aberrations was significantly associated with specific clinical variables such as the histological type, grade and stage of the tumors. Chromosome aberrations (expressed as total breaks) were investigated on chromosome 1 in interphase nuclei obtained from blood lymphocytes of the study participants using the fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) chromosome aberration assay. Our results indicate a significant linear increase ( P=0.01) in the level of breaks with respect to the grade of the carcinoma. The poorly differentiated tumors had a significantly higher level of chromosome breaks mean±SD (1.7±0.46) as compared to the well differentiated tumors (0.98±0.23, P