Estimation of in Vitro Frequency of Micronuclei in Binucleated Cells of Short-term Cultured Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes from Cancer Patients on Remission by Cytokinesis Blocked Micronucleus Assay

Abstract

Cytokinesis-block Micronuclei assay is among the various cytogenetic assays that have been used as a short-term test for any genotoxic assessment. The method has also gained attention as a tool for cancer risk assessment in lieu of chromosomal aberration test. We have studied this biomarker in known exposed groups retrospectively i.e., cancer patients on remission following treatment to evaluate if this reflects the genotoxic effects. The aim of the study is to evaluate the in vitro micronucleus frequency in circulated peripheral blood lymphocytes of the patients who have received the cancer therapy at least 2 years back. In this study, we used the nuclear division index and micronucleus frequencies to evaluate the cytotoxic and genotoxic effects respectively. The analyzed samples included treated breast cancer patients on remission with history of cancer therapy (5 females with mean age 52.4± 5.12) and control group included 5 healthy donors (3 females and 2 males with mean age 47.0± 5.70). We did not observe any significant difference in micronucleus frequencies of exposed group and controls. The percentage reduction of nuclear division index in exposed group was also not significant. These findings need to be substantiated with a larger population and longer follow up grouped according to the therapy.