Chromosome aberrations as a predictor of clinical outcome for smoking associated lung cancer

The ability to identify individuals at greatest risk of developing lung can cer can significantly enhance the efficacy of intervention modalities. One strategy for identifying these individuals is through biomarkers that refle ct the severity of their cancer. In the present study, we evaluated 22 lung cancer patients and 35 controls to determine whether the frequency of chro mosome aberrations was significantly associated with specific clinical vari ables such as the histological type, grade and stage of the turners. Chromo some aberrations (expressed as total breaks) were investigated on chromosom e 1 in interphase nuclei obtained from blood Lymphocytes of the study parti cipants using the fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) chromosome aber ration assay. Our results indicate a significant linear increase (P = 0.01) in the level of breaks with respect to the grade of the carcinoma. The poo rly differentiated tumors had a significantly higher level of chromosome br eaks mean +/- SD (1.7 +/- 0.46) as compared to the well differentiated tumo rs (0.98 +/- 0,23, P < 0,05). These results indicate that chromosome aberra tions, as determined by the FISH assay, can be used as a biomarker for iden tifying individuals with aggressive types of lung cancer and potentially, a s a predictor for prognostic outcome of the disease. (C) 2000 Elsevier Scie nce Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.