FREQUENCY OF SATELLITE ASSOCIATIONS IN SMOKERS AND NON SMOKERS- A CHROMOSOMAL STUDY

Abstract

Cigarette smoking exposes individuals to numerous carcinogenic and genotoxic substances that can induce DNA damage and chromosomal instability. The frequency of satellite associations (SA) among acrocentric chromosomes (D- and G groups) serves as a cytogenetic biomarker for assessing tobacco-induced chromosomal damage. This comparative cytogenetic study evaluated peripheral-blood lymphocyte cultures from 30 adult male cigarette smokers and 30 matched non-smoker controls. Smokers were subdivided into three equal categories based on their smoking index (SI): Category I (SI ≤150), Category II (SI 150–300), and Category III (SI ≥300). Fifty well-spread metaphases per participant (totalling 500 per smoker category and 1,500 across controls) were examined to score total satellite associations (SA), including D G (DG), G–G (GG), and D–D (DD) associations. Mean satellite-association frequencies increased progressively with higher smoking index categories, recording 14.0 in Category I, 24.0 in Category II, and 34.0 in Category III, compared to matched control means ranging between 7.0 and 7.5. Student's t-test confirmed statistically significant differences between smokers and controls across all categories (p = 0.0005 for Category I; p < 0.0001 for Categories II and III). DG associations were identified as the most frequent component in Categories I and II. A preliminary follow-up of two participants who ceased smoking for 1.5 years showed a descriptive decrease in SA frequency. Satellite association frequency is significantly higher in cigarette smokers than in non-smokers and exhibits a dose-dependent increase corresponding to the smoking index. These findings suggest that satellite association holds potential value as a cytogenetic biomonitoring parameter for evaluating tobacco-associated genomic effects, though larger longitudinal studies are warranted.