Micronuclei in cervical smears and peripheral blood lymphocytes from women with and without cervical uterine cancer.

Cervical cancer represents the second most common malignant neoplasia in women world-wide. In Mexico, cervical cancer is the most common female malignancy. It has been recently seen an increased frequencies of micronuclei (MN) lymphocytes and cervical epithelial cells of cervical cancer patients. The aim of this hospital-based unmatched case-control study was to investigate the association between progressive stages in development of cervical cancer and frequency of micronucleated cells in the cervical epithelium and peripheral lymphocytes of 40 women, grouped by disease stage. Women at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS) in Monterrey, Mexico were diagnosed and classified on the bases of the Papanicolaou (PAP) smear and colposcopy/biopsy into control, low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LGSIL), high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HGSIL), and invasive groups. Analysis of the MN data in both cell types revealed (a) homogeneity among women within each of the four groups with regard to MN frequency, (b) in general, a correlation between MN frequency and grade of cervical lesion, and (c) a positive linear trend between the MN frequency and increased cervical cancer risk. In conclusion, we suggest that MN are a useful biomarker of cancer risk. Nonetheless, these results should be validated by other researchers.