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. 2014 Sep;37(3):496-9.
doi: 10.1590/s1415-47572014000400004.

Association between cervical lesion grade and micronucleus frequency in the Papanicolaou test

Caroline Tanski Bueno  1 , Cláudia Maria Dornelles da Silva  2 , Regina Bones Barcellos  2 , Juliana da Silva  3 , Carla Rossana Dos Santos  1 , João Evangelista Sampaio Menezes  4 , Honório Sampaio Menezes  5 , Maria Lucia Rosa Rossetti  6
Affiliations

Association between cervical lesion grade and micronucleus frequency in the Papanicolaou test

Caroline Tanski Bueno et al. Genet Mol Biol. 2014 Sep.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between the frequency of micronuclei (MN) and the cellular changes detected in the conventional Papanicolaou test. One hundred and seventy-four Papanicolaou test smears with cellular changes were examined. MN screening was done in cytopathological smears by counting 1,000 cervical cells in a light microscope. MN frequencies were significantly higher in the group with cellular changes compared to the control group (p < 0.001). The mean MN frequencies were 0.95 ± 1.12 (mean ± SD) in the control group (n = 223), 2.98 ± 1.20 in individuals with atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US) (n = 50), 4.04 ± 1.45 in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) I (n = 52), 5.97 ± 1.83 in CIN II (n = 30), 7.29 ± 1.55 in CIN III (n = 17) and 8.64 ± 1.55 in invasive cancer (n = 25). These findings suggest that MN monitoring should be included as an additional criterion for the early detection of cytogenetic damage in routine examinations. This monitoring should be done in the same smear as used for cytopathological examination. More specific and systematic studies are necessary to confirm this proposal.

Keywords: Papanicolaou test; cervical cancer; cervical lesions; micronucleus.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Cervical smear showing the morphology of a squamous cell with micronuclei (arrow). Magnification: 1000×.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Frequency of micronuclei in each of the groups evaluated. a,b,c,dSignificant compared to the control (p < 0.001), ASC-US (p < 0.01), ASC-US (p < 0.001) and CIN I (p < 0.01) groups, respectively. In all cases, the significance was determined using the Kruskall-Wallis test. ASC-US–atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance, CIN – cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (grades I, II and III), and IC – invasive cancer. The columns are the mean ± SD of total individual analyzed per group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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