Chromosome abnormalities in peripheral lymphocytes from patients with progressive systemic sclerosis.

Chromosomal abnormalities in cultured peripheral lymphocytes from 14 progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS) patients and 15 normal subjects were examined. No increase was observed in the frequency of chromosome aberrations in PSS patients who had not received any medical treatment. Those who had received medication showed an increased frequency of dicentrics (0.3%) although the frequency was not significantly higher than that for normal subjects. It is not clear, however, whether the increase was due to the hypersensitivity of PSS patients to agents used for therapeutic purposes.