CHROMOSOMAL ALTERATIONS AFFECTING THE 1CEN-1Q12 REGION IN BUCCAL MUCOSAL CELLS OF BETEL QUID CHEWERS DETECTED USING MULTICOLOR FLUORESCENCEIN-SITU HYBRIDIZATION

Epidemiological studies have shown that a high incidence of oral cance rs is associated with chewing betel quid, Since chromosomal aberration s are involved in many types of cancers, me investigated whether incre ased frequencies of chromosomal alterations could be detected in the o ral mucosa cells of betel quid chewers as compared to non-chewers. Due to the difficulty in culturing these epithelial cells, me used multic olor FISH with adjacent DNA probes to detect hyperdiploidy and breakag e/exchanges affecting the 1cen-q12 region in interphase cells. Buccal mucosa cells from 19 male betel quid chewers and 23 non-chewers were h ybridized and 1000 cells per donor were evaluated. A highly significan t increase in the frequency of breakage affecting 1cen-1q12 region was observed in the mucosa cells of the chewers as compared to the non-ch ewers. A good correlation was also seen between breakage and duration of chewing. A modest increase in hyperdiploidy for chromosome 1 was al so observed among chewers who had used betel quid for many years. Thes e results indicate that this FISH approach can be useful for human bio monitoring, particularly for detecting alterations in non-dividing cel ls.