Micronucleus incidence and their chromosomal origin related to therapy in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients: detection by micronucleus and FISH techniques.

Micronucleus assay and dual color-fluorescence in situ hybridization (DC-FISH), using centromere-specific and whole chromosome-specific painting probes, are considered a useful screening test to determine the incidence of micronucleus, their origin and contents. The patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), who had undergone chemotherapy, were analysed before and after treatment with vincristine, methotrexate, daunomycin, prednisone, and asparaginase. The incidence of micronuclei after the antileukemic agent treatment was significantly higher than before the treatment. Application of DC-FISH using a combination of whole chromosome-specific painting probes and the same chromosome-specific alpha-satellite centromeric probe showed that there were no significant differences in the micronucleus incidence for any specific chromosome (chromosomes 7, 8, 11, 17, X, and Y). There were no significant differences between the incidence of centromere-positive micronuclei and the incidence of centromere-negative micronucleus. We concluded that antileukemic agents induced the somatic genetic damage but this damage is not related to any specific chromosome studied. Copyright 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.