Sister chromatid exchange in malignant lymphomas

Abstract Sister chromatid exchange (SCE) was evaluated in peripheral lymphocytes from 20 untreated patients with malignant lymphomas: 6 with Hodgkin's disease (HD), 14 with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), and 5 with lymphadenitis. The mean SCE frequency (± SE) was: 11.2 ± 0.6, 11.0 ± 0.6, and 7.2 ± 0.3 for HD, NHL, and lymphadenitis patients, respectively, and 8.7 ± 0.2 for the control group. No differences in SCE score were observed in HD and NHL. These results allowed us to consider both groups (HD and NHL) as a single neoplastic population (mean ± SE, 11.0 ± 0.4). No significant differences were found between the lymphadenitis and control groups. On the other hand, significantly higher SCE scores were seen in neoplastic populations than in the control and lymphadenitis groups (p