Chromosome aberrations induced by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine in cultured skin fibroblasts from patients with adenomatosis coli.

We have studied the chromosomal sensitivity to N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) of human diploid skin fibroblasts derived from individuals with adenomatosis coli (AC), which is a dominantly inherited disorder associated with multiple adenomas of the colon and rectum. Spontaneous frequencies of chromosome aberrations in the cell strains from the AC patients were similar to those in the control cells from normal individuals. However, the AC cells exhibited elevated chromosome instabilities when cells were expected to MNNG, with aberration frequencies approximately twice as high as in similarly treated control cells. The present results, together with findings by others, suggest that the AC cells are defective in a function which regulates cellular condition and are in a state more susceptible to the action of agents that react with chromosomal DNA. These findings also raise the possibility of developing a diagnostic procedure for early detection of abnormal gene carriers of AC.