Sister chromatid exchange in Waldenström's macroglobulinemia

Results on sister chromatid exchange (SCE) frequency and interchromosomal distribution in bone marrow and peripheral blood cultures from patients with Waldenström's macroglobulinemia are reported. PHA-stimulated bone marrow cultures showed increased SCE frequencies in all 12 patients examined. The increase was particularly high in two cases (17.07 and 16.77 SCE/cell, respectively) and, in one of them, a very high SCE level was found in PHA-stimulated peripheral blood culture (40.81 SCE/cell). In LPS-stimulated cultures, increased SCE levels were observed in some patients. Comparison between SCE frequency in bone marrow cell cultures with either mitogen showed a significant increase in PHA-stimulated cultures. Analysis of the interchromosomal SCE distribution revealed significant differences with respect to the control values; however, these differences were variable in the different patients. In pooled data of PHA-stimulated bone marrow cultures, there were differences between expected and observed SCEs in chromosomes 1 and 2 and in B, E, F, and G chromosome groups. Results of cell cycle modifications are also reported.