Increased frequency of micronuclei in the lymphocytes of patients chronically infected with hepatitis B or hepatitis C virus

In this study, we analysed the frequency of micronuclei (MN), nucleoplasmic bridges(NPBs) and nuclear buds (NBUDs) and evaluated mutagen-induced sensitivity in thelymphocytes of patients chronically infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) orhepatitis C virus (HCV). In total, 49 patients with chronic viral hepatitis (28HBV-infected and 21 HCV-infected patients) and 33 healthy, non-infected blood donorcontrols were investigated. The frequencies (‰) of MN, NPBs and NBUDs in the controlswere 4.41 ± 2.15, 1.15 ± 0.97 and 2.98 ± 1.31, respectively. The frequencies of MNand NPBs were significantly increased (p < 0.0001) in the patient group (7.01 ±3.23 and 2.76 ± 2.08, respectively) compared with the control group. When consideredseparately, the HBV-infected patients (7.18 ± 3.57) and HCV-infected patients (3.27 ±2.40) each had greater numbers of MN than did the controls (p < 0.0001). TheHCV-infected patients displayed high numbers of NPBs (2.09 ± 1.33) and NBUDs (4.38 ±3.28), but only the HBV-infected patients exhibited a significant difference (NPBs =3.27 ± 2.40, p < 0.0001 and NBUDs = 4.71 ± 2.79, p = 0.03) in comparison with thecontrols. Similar results were obtained for males, but not for females, when allpatients or the HBV-infected group was compared with the controls. The lymphocytes ofthe infected patients did not exhibit sensitivity to mutagen in comparison with thelymphocytes of the controls (p = 0.06). These results showed that the lymphocytes ofpatients who were chronically infected with HBV or HCV presented greater chromosomalinstability.