ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To detect the genomic instability in the 16 human broncho-epithelial (16HBE) cells induced by crystalline nickel sulfide so as to provide the scientific basis for further study of nickel-induced cancer molecular mechanism.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>To analyse the genomic instability in transformed 16HBE cells induced by crystalline nickel sulfide by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>All the 7 random primers selected could amplify 1 - 6 clear PCR bands. There were no significant differences between transformed 16HBE cells and negative control cells in the 4th, 5th, and 7th primers, but in the rest 4 primers there were significant differences, with special PCR bands for the same primer, indicating that genomic instability in transformed 16 HBE cells was induced by crystalline nickel sulfide.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Crystalline nickel sulfide could induce genomic instability in 16HBE cells.</p>