C-band heteromorphism in lung cancer patients

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to investigate the intra-pair asymmetry, inversions and deviation in the size of the C-band region of chromosomes 1, 9 and 16 in 39 patients with lung cancer as compared with a group of 29 healthy subjects as controls. The size heteromorphism was evaluated using 16p as a reference. Heteromorphism between homologous chromosomes was considered when there was an intra- pair difference of one or more levels. Inversions whether partial [more than 1/4 of the C-band located on the short arm] or total were recorded. There was no significant difference in heterochromatin size between patients and controls. Comparing the symmetry and heteromorphic pattern in chromosomes 1, 9 and 16 revealed that heteromorphism was more frequent in lung cancer patients compared with the control groups. Heteromorphism of chromosome No. 9 was present in 51.28% in the lung cancer patients as compared with 34.48% of the control, the difference was statistically insignificant. Heteromorphism of chromosome No. 16 was present in 23.08% of the lung cancer patients as compared with 13.79% of the control group, but the difference was statistically insignificant. The frequency of localization variants was higher in the lung cancer patients than the control. The frequency of inversions in chromosome 9 was 5.13% in the group with lung cancer as compared with 1.73% in the control group, the differences were statistically insignificant