Normal sister chromatid exchange and cell cycle progression in cultured lymphocytes from patients with malignant lymphoma.

Twenty patients with malignant lymphoma were examined; all but 2 were untreated or had not recently received therapy. Sister chromatid exchange (SCE) and cell progression through to the third mitotic cycle after phytohemagglutinin stimulation did not differ according to lymphoma type or disease stage, and the lymphoma group as a whole did not differ from 20 normal controls. These findings are contrary to other recent studies of SCE in malignant lymphoma. The only patient who had received recent chemotherapy had the highest SCE score and a greatly accelerated cell cycle response.