Introduction

Smoking is an independent cause of cervical cancer, which is the 4th most common malignancy in women. It is currently not known if tobacco consumption causes chromosomal damage (which is a hallmark of human cancer) in cervical cells and if age and the hormonal status have an impact on tobacco induced genetic instability in the cervix.

Methods

We conducted a study with pre- and post-menopausal women smokers and never-smokers (25/group). Smokers consumed 30 light/medium cigarettes/day and were matched with the non-smoking group. Cervical cells were analyzed for induction of micronuclei (MN) which are caused by structural/numerical chromosomal aberrations; additionally, other nuclear anomalies reflecting genomic instability and cytotoxicity were scored. Furthermore, the frequencies of basal cells were recorded which reflect the mitotic activity of the mucosa.

Results

MN and other abnormalities were increased in both groups of smokers. The effects were most pronounced in postmenopausal smokers (i.e. 2-fold higher) compared to premenopausal smokers. Also the number of basal cells (indicative for cell proliferation) was clearly enhanced in older women. Tar and nicotine had no detectable impact on chromosomal damage but a clear association with pack-years was observed.

Conclusions

Smoking increased chromosomal instability, cytotoxicity and induced cell divisions in cervical mucosa cells of pre- and post-menopausal women. The effects were more pronounced in the latter group indicating a higher risk for diseases (including cancer) that are causally related to DNA damage.

中文翻译：

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吸烟会引起子宫颈细胞中的微核和其他核异常的诱导。

介绍

吸烟是子宫颈癌的独立原因，子宫颈癌是女性中最常见的第四大恶性肿瘤。目前尚不清楚烟草消费是否会引起宫颈细胞染色体损伤（这是人类癌症的标志），年龄和荷尔蒙状态是否会影响烟草诱发的子宫颈遗传不稳定性。

方法

我们对绝经前后女性吸烟者和从未吸烟者（25人/组）进行了一项研究。吸烟者每天消耗30支轻/中型香烟，并与非吸烟组相匹配。分析宫颈细胞的微核（MN）诱导，该微核是由结构/数字染色体畸变引起的；另外，对反映基因组不稳定性和细胞毒性的其他核异常进行了评分。此外，记录了反映粘膜有丝分裂活性的基底细胞的频率。

结果

两组吸烟者的MN和其他异常均增加。与绝经前吸烟者相比，该效应在绝经后吸烟者中最为明显（即高出2倍）。老年妇女的基础细胞数量（指示细胞增殖）也明显增加。焦油和尼古丁对染色体损伤没有可检测到的影响，但观察到与包年明显相关。

结论

吸烟增加了绝经前后妇女宫颈粘膜细胞的染色体不稳定，细胞毒性和诱导的细胞分裂。在后一组中效果更明显，表明与DNA损伤有因果关系的疾病（包括癌症）的风险更高。