DNA damage in circulating leukocytes measured with the comet assay may predict the risk of death

Stefano Bonassi*, Marcello Ceppi, Peter Møller, Amaya Azqueta, Mirta Milic, Neri Monica, Gunnar Brunborg, Roger Godschalk, Gudrun Koppen, Sabine A. S. Langie, Joao Paulo Teixeira, Marco Bruzzone, Juliana Da Silva, Danieli Benedetti, Delia Cavallo, Cinzia Lucia Ursini, Lisa Giovannelli, Silvia Moretti, Patrizia Riso, Cristian Del Bo'Patrizia Russo, Malgorzata Dobrzynska, Irina A. Goroshinskaya, Ekaterina I. Surikova, Marta Staruchova, Magdalena Barancokova, Katarina Volkovova, Alena Kazimirova, Bozena Smolkova, Blanca Laffon, Vanessa Valdiglesias, Susana Pastor, Ricard Marcos, Alba Hernandez, Goran Gajski, Biljana Spremo-Potparevic, Lada Zivkovic, Elisa Boutet-Robinet, Herve Perdry, Pierre Lebailly, Carlos L. Perez, Nursen Basaran, Zsuzsanna Nemeth, Anna Safar, Maria Dusinska, Andrew Collins, Diana Anderson, Diana Anderson, Vanessa Andrade, Cristiana Costa Pereira, hCOMET Project

*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

The comet assay or single cell gel electrophoresis, is the most common method used to measure strand breaks and a variety of other DNA lesions in human populations. To estimate the risk of overall mortality, mortality by cause, and cancer incidence associated to DNA damage, a cohort of 2,403 healthy individuals (25,978 person-years) screened in 16 laboratories using the comet assay between 1996 and 2016 was followed-up. Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated a worse overall survival in the medium and high tertile of DNA damage (p < 0.001). The effect of DNA damage on survival was modelled according to Cox proportional hazard regression model. The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) was 1.42 (1.06-1.90) for overall mortality, and 1.94 (1.04-3.59) for diseases of the circulatory system in subjects with the highest tertile of DNA damage. The findings of this study provide epidemiological evidence encouraging the implementation of the comet assay in preventive strategies for non-communicable diseases.

Original languageEnglish
Article number16793
JournalScientific Reports
Volume11
Issue number1
Number of pages11
ISSN2045-2322
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Keywords

  • CHROMOSOMAL-ABERRATIONS
  • HUMAN CANCER
  • LYMPHOCYTES PREDICTS
  • FREQUENCY
  • VALIDATION
  • BIOMARKERS
  • HALLMARKS
  • ADDUCTS
  • REPAIR
  • COHORT

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