CYTOGENETIC STUDIES IN LEUKOCYTE CULTURES FROM PATIENTS WITH SOME VIRAL DISEASES AND IN THOSE INFECTED WITH HSV

Chromosome abnormalities were studied in leukocyte cultures from patients with serum hepatitis, infectious hepatitis, rubella and aseptic meningitis, and in those infected with herpes simplex virus, with special consideration of the type and frequency of the abnormalities. Some statistical assessments were made on the randomness and non-randomness of breakage distribution in chromosome groups, arms, and segments. The most frequent type of abnormalities observed in leukocytes from patients with these viral diseases was a simple chromatid-type break as represented by a full break in one chromatid. In cultured leukocytes infected with herpes simplex virus, chromatid-type breaks were also most common. In general, the frequency of cells with chromosome breaks in the patient materials was considerably higher than that in the control series with a statistically significant difference, with the exception of 10 cases of aseptic meningitis observed in 1965. Chromosome aberrations induced in cultured leukocytes by infection with herpes simplex virus were also characterized by chromatid-type breaks which were considerably higher in occurrence than in non-infected leukocytes. In the leukocytes of serum hepatitis patients, the most significant excess of breaks occurred in the middle segments of the long arms of chromosomes 13-15. Chromosomes 6-X-12 showed also a significant excess in the proximal segments of their long arms. In leukocytes of infectious hepatitis patients, a relatively significant excess of breaks was observed in the middle segments of the long arms of chromosomes 4-5. Leukocyte cultures infected with herpes simplex virus showed the most significant excess of breaks occurring in the middle segments of the long arms of chromosomes 6-X-12. A deficit of breaks in smaller chromosome groups (19-20, Y-21-22) seemed to be a common feature through cases of serum hepatitis and infectious hepatitis, and also in leukocytes infected with herpes simplex virus. © 1968, Japan Mendel Society, International Society of Cytology. All rights reserved.