Higher frequency of chromosome aberrations in lymphocytes, exposed and non-exposed to mytocmycin C, amongst postmenopausal obese women compared to non-obese from the department of Cauca, Colombia Mayor frecuencia de aberraciones cromosómicas en linfocitos expuestos o no a mitomicina C, de mujeres post-menopáusicas obesas en comparación con mujeres no obesas del departamento del Cauca, Colombia

Introduction. Epidemiological studies indicate that obesity is associated in as much as 25-20% with several types of cancer. Objective. To evaluate the frequency of chromosome aberrations in lymphocytes from postmenopausal obese and non-obese women by means of the challenge assay as biomarker of genomic instability. Materials and methods. A total of 20 obese and 20 non-obese women, all post-menopause, were recruited for the study. The groups were matched according to age (± 5 years) and place of origin. After freely signing a consent form, women were interviewed using a structured questionnaire and a blood sample (5 cc) was drawn in vacutainer tubes. From each sample, lymphocyte cell cultures were established with and without mitomycin C (challenge assay). Afterwards, the frequency of chromosome aberrations were registered for each group and treatment. Data were analyzed using the statistical SPSS v. 14.0. Results. In general, obese women had a higher chromosome aberrations' frequency when compared to non-obese women. After exposing the cell cultures to Mitomycin C, obese women presented an increase in the number of total chromosome aberrations in comparison to non-obese women (3,74 ± 0,63 vs. 2,70 ± 0,61; p = 0,001). Conclusions. The higher frequency of chromosome aberrations in lymphocytes from postmenopausal obese women compared to non-obese women suggest differences in the DNA repair capacity, which could explain the association between genomic instability and the higher incidence of cancer in this population. Introducción. Estudios epidemiológicos indican que la obesidad está asociada en un 25-30% con varios tipos de cáncer. Objetivo. Evaluar la frecuencia de aberraciones cromosómicas en linfocitos de mujeres post-menopáusicas obesas y no-obesas, mediante la prueba de challenge como biomarcador de inestabilidad genómica. Materiales y métodos. Un total de 40 mujeres post-menopáusicas fueron reclutadas para el estudio (20 obesas y 20 no-obesas). Los grupos fueron pareados según edad (± 5 a os) y procedencia. Después de la firma voluntaria del consentimiento informado, las mujeres fueron entrevistadas y se tomó una muestra de sangre periférica (5 cc). Se establecieron cultivos de linfocitos con y sin tratamiento a mitomicina C (prueba de challenge) y posteriormente se registró la frecuencia de aberraciones cromosómicas para cada grupo y tratamiento. Resultados. En general, las mujeres obesas presentaron una mayor frecuencia de aberraciones cromosómicas en comparación con las mujeres no-obesas. Después de exponer los cultivos celulares a mitomicina C,