The single cell gel electrophoresis: A potential tool for DNA analysis of the patients with hematological malignancies

Single cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE) was used to evaluate the level of DN A damage in peripheral blood (PB), bone marrow (BM), and lymphatic node (LN ) cells of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), acute myeloid leukemia (AML), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), chronic myeloid leukemi a (CML) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). The level of DNA damage was compa red with the level of basal DNA damage in control group, represented by hea lthy donors. Statistically significant increase of basal DNA damage was found in leukemi a/lymphoma cells of patients suffered from AML, CML, ALL of T-cell subtype (T-ALL), and NHL, however, no difference in basal DNA damage was found in p atients with ALL of early B-cell subtype (B-ALL) and CLL in comparison to c ontrol group. The mean basal DNA damage increased in the order CLL< early B -ALL<T-ALL<AML<CML<NHL (5.6, 7.2, 10.7, 11.9, 16.9, and 23.4% of tail DNA, respectively) what correlated with survival prediction of patients with par ticular hematological disease. A large heterogeneity was found in the level of basal DNA damage among patients with AML. By sorting this group accordi ng to the immunophenotypic markers and cell maturity a good correlation was found between the level of basal DNA damage and French-American-British (F AB) classification for AML M-1-M-2 vs. M-4-M-5). Though T-ALL group manifes ted larger homogeneity in comparison with AML, the value of basal DNA damag e was also dependent on T-cells maturity and coexpression of surface marker CD10. Chemotherapy resulted in a significant but variable increase of DNA damage in leukemia/lymphoma cells. No increase of DNA damage was repeatedly observ ed in leukemia/lymphoma cells of patient who did not respond to therapy. Th e level of DNA damage in cells of patients in remission decreased more or l ess to the basal level in control cells.