Micronucleus assay in buccal smears of breast carcinoma patients

Abstract

The aim of this study is to compare micronucleus assay in buccal smear of breast carcinoma patients versus normal benign cases as control group. In this prospective study, we selected a total 32 patients of carcinoma of breast and 49 patients of benign breast lesions diagnosed in fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC). Acridine orange stain was done on buccal smears of these cases and micronucleus (MN) scoring was performed in 40× 0bjective in a fluorescent microscope. The MN score was expressed as positivity per 1,000 cells. The MN scoring in buccal smear was compared in malignant and benign breast cases. In fluorescence microscope, the micronucleus was detected as round orange shaped small intracytoplasmic structure around the nucleus. The mean MN scores in buccal smears of benign and carcinoma cases were 0.5014 ± 0.45768 and 2.1938 ± 1.08656 cases respectively. Independent sample Student's t test showed significantly high MN score in buccal smear of the cancer patients (P < 0.001). Micronucleated cells are significantly increased in buccal cells of the breast carcinoma cases. The increased number of MN in buccal smears raises the possibility that the genetic damage in breast cancer patients is generalized. In future, MN scoring could be used as biomonitoring of DNA damage and in early detection of high risk cases of carcinoma of breast.

Micronuclei in breast aspirates. Is scoring them helpful?

“…[12,13] In breast carcinoma patient's occurrence of micro nuclei has been investigated in lymphocytes which is procured from peripheral blood. [14] Pranab Dey et al [15] have reported significant increase of micronuclei in buccal smears of patients with carcinoma breast raising the possibility that genetic damage in these patients is generalized and micronuclei can act as biomonitoring of DNA detection in these cases. Only few studies have described the occurrence of spontaneous micro nuclei in breast carcinoma on fine needle aspirates.…”

Clinical application of micronucleus test in exfoliated buccal cells: A systematic review and metanalysis

“…The MN assay in buccal cells was also applied in groups of patients with tumors in different regions of the body other than head and neck to explore the suitability of this biomarker as an index of cancer risk/susceptibility (23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31). In addition, an increase of MN frequency was observed in a number of studies on diabetes (31)(32)(33)(34) and different chronic diseases (35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40).…”

“…A further study not included in the table, carried out only in a group of patients with white oral lesions reports increased frequencies of MN and nuclear anomalies, mainly binucleated cells and fragmented nuclei, in lesion areas with respect to normal mucosa(18).Even for non-malignant diseases of the mouth with the exception of the study of Matsumoto,(74) significant differences in MN frequency between cases and controls were observed.A strong relationship was established between the MN frequency in patients with oral and head-Table 3describes a number of studies carried out in patients with tumors other than head-and-neck cancer. Three studies concerned breast cancer patients and all of them report a statistical significant increase of MN or MNC frequency in patients or their relatives compared with control groups(23,28,30). A single study is available on bladder cancer revealing an increase of MN frequency in buccal exfoliated cells, of patients with histologically confirmed bladder cancer(31).…”

Micronuclei and nuclear buds: Highlighting overlooked indicators of chromosomal damage in thyroid aspiration smears

“…Micronucleus is an indicator of chromosomal damage, genome instability, and cancer risk . Nuclear budding is also associated with chromosomal instability events and some of its formation mechanisms overlap with the ones proposed for micronucleus (MN) .…”