engleski

Cytogenetic biomarkers and human cancer risk (CancerRiskBiomarkers)

Cytogenetic analysis of peripheral blood lymphocytes have been used for decades to show the genotoxic effects of chemical and radiation exposure in humans. Nordic-Italian studies have revealed that a high frequency of chromosome aberrations (CAs) but not the sister chromated exchange (SCEs) or micronuclei (MN) in lymphocytes is predictive of an increased cancer risk. Individual exposure assessment of the cancer cases and their matched healthy controls indicated that the association between Cas and cancer risk was not explained by smoking or known occupational exposure to carcinogens. High CA level was associated with increased cancer risk also in non-smokers and in subjects with no history of occupational contact with carcinogens. Thus, high CA frequency appeared to predict increased cancer risk regardless of the reason for the elevated Cas. Furthermore, the time between CA analysis and cancer outcome did not influence the association, suggesting that the findings are not explained by undetected cancer. An international collaborative study (CancerRiskBiomarkers, QLK4-CT-2000-00628) is presently going on to further characterise the relationship between cytogenetic biomarkers and cancer. The project aims at clarifying e.g. The cancer risk predictivity of cytogenetic biomarkers in several new European cohorts, the role of genetic polymprphisms of carcinogen metabolism, DNA repair and folate metabolism, the classes of chromosome alterations having cancer predictive value, and the types of cancer preditected. The project also cooperates with the International Collaborative Project on Micronucleus Frequency in Human Populations (HUMN) to assess the possibile cancer risk predictivity of the cytokinesis-block MN assay.

chromosome aberrations; cancer; risk; human

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