Evaluation of radiation-induced chromosome instability in subjects with a family history of gastric cancer.

Gastric cancer (GC) shows a familiar predisposition which is largely unexplained. In this study the hypothesis that radiation sensitivity is implicated in the familiar predisposition to GC was investigated by means of the cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay. Data indicate that a family history of GC is not associated with any of the biomarkers investigated and does not interact with the demographic variables considered. When study subjects were dichotomized around the median age, a significant prevalence of micronuclei was observed in older subjects. Age and both spontaneous and radiation-induced micronuclei were linearly correlated. The effect of age was not modified by gender or smoking habits.