Chromosomal instability in breast cancer patients

We have carried out cytogenetic studies, using the G-banding technique, in peripheral blood lymphocytes of 10 patients affected by breast carcinoma. The frequency of aberrant metaphases (7.36%) is significantly different from that of our laboratory controls (3.76% of aberrant metaphases) but not from that detected in patients suffering from bladder cancer (10.64%) and Hodgkin's disease (11.03%), two conditions that have previously been described as chromosomally unstable. Our results suggest that breast carcinoma patients show a degree of chromosomal instability that could be related to a predisposition to neoplastic disease.