Genome and chromosome mutations in porphyria cutanea tarda.

Spontaneous genome mutations in ten patients with porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT) amounted to 1.02% as compared to 0.36% in the control group of healthy individuals (P less than 0.01). Spontaneous structural chromosome aberrations in patients were seen in 2.39% of the examined cells versus 0.70% in the cells of controls (P less than 0.01). The increased percentage of cells with spontaneous genome and chromosome mutations in patients with PCT cannot be associated with alcohol only.