[Chromosome aberrations studied in short and long-term cultures of lymphocytes from patients with chronic hepatitis].

Chromosome aberrations of short and long-term cultured lymphocytes have been studied in 12 subjects with chronic hepatitis B. Short-term cultures show "stickiness", aneuploidy, and fragmentations. Long-term cultures show minor damages, made up almost totally of "lacunae" and sporadic fragmentations. Major size chromosomes appear to be more affected, among the latter those containing sites for the interferon. This latter findings would suggest that the interferon decrease in patients might be bound, even only partially to the virus-linked chromosome alterations.