Age-related peculiarities of cytogenetic consequences of spring–summer tick-borne encephalitis among residents of northwestern Siberia due to polymorphism of glutathione S-transferase genes

Abstract

The aim of the present work was a comparative study of cytogenetic consequences of spring–summer tick-borne encephalitis in elderly and young individuals due to differences in glutathione S-transferase genes. The cytogenetic survey was conducted in 120 tick-borne encephalitis patients, residents of the north of Tomsk oblast (20–35 years (1st group) and 65–85 years (2nd group)). A material for the study (buccal epithelium) was taken in each subject 3–5 times: 1st–2nd day after hospitalization, in 1 week, 1, 3, 6 months. It was established that tick-borne encephalitis causes significantly larger cytogenetic changes in the buccal epithelium in elderly than in young patients. The recovery of the cytogenetic norm is observed in the group of young individuals three months after hospitalization; elderly individuals, six months after. When comparing cytogenetic consequences of tick-borne encephalitis, it was demonstrated that in young patients the level of cytogenetically anomalous cells was significantly higher in carriers of inactive GSTM1(0)/GSTT1(0) gene forms as compared with patients in which homozygous variants of these genes were active. No such dependence was registered in elderly patients.