Micronucleus frequencies in lymphocytes and buccal epithelial cells from patients having head and neck cancer and their first-degree relatives

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is the fifth most common cancer type worldwide. Even though it is known that the most important environmental aetiological factors for head and neck cancer (HNC) development are tobacco and alcohol, genetic susceptibility is also thought to be important. The use of biomarkers of chromosomal damage due to genetic instability in order to predict risk of cancer as well as to identify high-risk individuals is imperative. We have investigated genetic damage in patients having HNC (n = 59) and their first-degree relatives (FDRs) (n = 34) with a biomarker in two different tissues; the micronucleus (MN) test in peripheral blood lymphocytes and in exfoliated buccal cells. The mean (standard deviation) levels of MN frequencies (‰) in lymphocytes of patients, relatives and controls were 27.10 (9.52), 14.09 (5.13) and 9.00 (6.87), respectively. The mean (standard deviation) levels of MN frequencies (‰) in exfoliated buccal cells of patients, relatives and controls were 2.87 (1.16), 1.38 (0.85) and 1.23 (0.93), respectively. Our results indicated that spontaneous genetic damage in lymphocytes of patients having HNC was significantly higher than that of controls (P < 0.01) and thus genetic instability appeared to exist in lymphocytes of cancer patients. Similar findings were obtained for exfoliated buccal cell MN frequencies of cancer patients (P < 0.01). We observed that the FDRs of patients having HNC showed significantly higher chromosomal damage in terms of MN frequencies in lymphocytes when compared with those of controls (P < 0.05), thus reflecting an increased susceptibility to HNC in FDRs. However, for buccal cell MN frequencies, we could not demonstrate enhanced genetic instability in the FDRs of patients having HNC.