Mutagenesis after therapy for Hodgkin's disease

Therapy for Hodgkin's disease has been associated with a significant increase in risk for second cancers. To begin an investigation of the association of therapy-induced genetic damage with this risk, somatic mutations at the hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase locus were measured in lymphocytes from patients previously treated for Hodgkin's disease. The results demonstrate that a subset of patients have persistently elevated mutation frequencies, perhaps suggesting that these individuals are among those at significant risk of second cancer development.