Are chromosome aberrations in circulating lymphocytes predictive of future cancer onset in humans? Preliminary results of an Italian cohort study.

To investigate the existence of an association between the frequency of chromosome aberrations (CA) in non-target tissues and cancer risk, a historical cohort study was carried out in a group of 1455 subjects screened for CA over the last 20 years in Italy. Statistically significant increases in standardized mortality ratio (SMR) for all cancers were found in subjects with medium and high levels of CA in peripheral blood lymphocytes (SMR = 178.5 and SMR = 182.0, respectively) and in subjects with high levels of CA for respiratory tract cancers (SMR = 250.8) and lymphatic and hematopoietic tissue neoplasms (SMR = 548.8). Significant trends in the SMRs were observed for these latter causes of death.