MICRONUCLEI IN LYMPHOCYTE SUBSETS IN RELATION TO IMMUNE PROTEINS AND ALLERGIC DISEASE

This is an investigation of 54 boys and 23 girls with a median age of 19 years (range 18-22 years). The study group contained 12 boys and fi ve girls with asthma and 23 boys and seven girls with allergic rhiniti s. Sensitivity to pollen and furred animals were reported by 22 boys a nd eight girls and by 17 boys and six girls, respectively. The levels of serum immune proteins (IgA, IgE and IgG with subclasses, and IgM) w ere determined by immunological techniques. As a biomarker of chromoso mal damages, the lymphocyte micronuclei was used. We analyzed the freq uencies of micronuclei in 3000 B-lymphocytes and in equal numbers of T 4- and T8-lymphocytes. The lymphocytes were separated by magnetic attr action in T4 (CD4), T8 (CD8) and B (CD19) fractions using Dynabeads(R) . The most interesting finding of this investigation was that the thre e markers of atopic disease, asthma, hypersensitivity to pollen and Ig E levels, associated significantly with increased frequencies of micro nuclei in B-lymphocytes, There was also a relation between IgA and the frequency of micronuclei in B-cells. In an epidemiological study of 7 000 individuals with allergic diseases, we have found an over-risk for lymphomas in the group with positive skin prick test. Hypothetically, we think that there may be a link between our present finding of an i ncreased mutagenic activity and the lymphoma over-risk among individua ls with allergic disease since most lymphomas stem from B-lymphocytes. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.