Cytogenetic studies in 12 patients with itai-itai disease

Among 12 Itai-Itai disease patients examined, 8 patients showed a remarkably high frequency of chromatid aberrations, whereas the other 4 patients showed a much lower frequency of such aberrations, although a significant number of stable type aberrations was observed also in the latter patients. The frequencies of aneuploid cells of all 12 patients were significantly higher than those of the controls. The abnormalities were found in 50-hour and 72-hour cultures, from which it can be concluded that the aberrations occurred in the blood stem cell of the patients. In addition to these structural and numerical aberrations, satellite associations of the D and G group chromosomes were often observed.