Normal frequency of chromosome breakage in lymphocytes from patients with musculoskeletal sarcoma

Spontaneous chromosome aberrations were studied in lymphocytes from 23 untreated patients with musculoskeletal sarcoma and 27 controls. Among the sarcoma patients, the mean gap, break, and gap + break events per 100 metaphases were 0.9, 2.2, and 3.0, respectively. The corresponding values for the control group were 1.3, 1.6, and 2.8. The mean number of aberrant mitoses was 2.4% in the sarcoma group and 2.5% in the controls. None of the differences between patients and controls were statistically significant. Thus, we found no evidence of inherent chromosome instability in patients with malignant mesenchymal tumors.