Assessment of DNA damage in curses handling antineoplastic drugs by the alkaline COMET assay

The widespread use of chemotherapy in the treatment of cancer has led to an xiety about the possible hazards to staff involved in the preparation and a dministration of cytotoxic agents. Careless handling of antineoplastic drug s may lead to exposure in detectable amounts by means of chemical or biolog ical methods in the body fluids or cell samples but the information about t he mutagenic effects of these agents on nurses is limited and inconsistent, DNA damage in peripheral lymphocytes of 30 professional nurses employed in the oncology departments for at least 6 months were examined by the alkali ne single cell gel electrophoresis, 'COMET' technique. The results were com pared to that of 30 controls with comparable age, sex and smoking habits, n ot practising in the chemotherapy services. Work characteristics of the exp osed nurses and the use of personal protective equipment were also investig ated. The DNA damage observed in the lymphocytes of the nurses was signific antly higher than the controls (p < 0.001). The observed DNA damage was fou nd to be significantly lower (p < 0.001) in nurses applying the necessary i ndividual safety protections during their work. Cigarette smoking was not r elated to increases in DNA damage, also a significant association was not f ound between the duration of occupational exposure to antineoplastic drugs and the DNA damage. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.