Summary
The serum of patients with systemic lupus erymathosus contains a chromosome-breaking agent of low molecular weight, which produces chromosomal breakage and rearrangement in lymphocyte cultures of healthy donors. This breakage factor is probably produced by or released from the cells of patients, since lymphocyte extracts and cocultivation of patients' lymphocytes with lymphocytes from healthy subjects results in an increased frequency of chromosome aberrations in the normal cells. The aberration rate induced by this clastogenic agent is reduced to normal values if the free radical scavenging enzyme superoxide dismutase is added to the culture medium at a final concentration of 0.05 mg/ml.
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Emerit, I., Michelson, A.M., Levy, A. et al. Chromosome-breaking agent of low molecular weight in human systemic Lypus Erythematosus . Hum Genet 55, 341–344 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00290215
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00290215