Cytogenetic and cytokinetic analysis of lymphocytes from patients with hereditary adenomatosis of the colon and rectum.

The frequencies of chromosome aberrations, sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs), and cell cycle kinetics were examined in cultured lymphocytes from five patients with hereditary adenomatosis of the colon and rectum (ACR) [three patients with Gardner's syndrome (GS) and two patients with familial polyposis coli (FPC)]. The frequency of numerical chromosome aberrations was no different in metaphase cells at the first and second replication cycles (M1 and M2) in the ACR patients and control subjects. The percentage of structural chromosome aberrations in both M1 and M2 cells was somewhat higher in the ACR patients as compared with the controls. Neither spontaneous nor mitomycin C-induced SCE frequencies in the patients with ACR were different from the controls, except for one patient with GS, who showed a remarkably high spontaneous SCE frequency. This patient is the mother of a son who had hepatoblastoma. The cell replication index (RI) was lower in the GS patients than in the controls. However, the RI in the FPC patients did not differ from that of the controls.