Effects of etoposide and fludarabine in subtoxic doses on karyotype of human malignant lymphoid Namalwa cells.

We studied changes in the karyotype of transplanted Namalwa cells induced by DNA-damaging antitumor preparations etoposide and fludarabine in subtoxic doses. The relative number of cells containing increased number of chromosomes and the incidence of chromatid aberrations with primary damage to chromosomes 2, 5, 11, 16, and 17 increased. Cytogenetic changes developed even after short-term incubation of cells with antitumor preparations and were observed during further culturing in a medium not containing etoposide or fludarabine.