Increased genomic damage and vitamin B status in inflammatory bowel disease patients: A case-control, prospective, pilot study

•Studies using the CBMN-Cyt assay for measuring genomic damage in inflammatory bowel disease are lacking.•We observed a significantly higher frequencies of micronuclei in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.•No correlation between rates of micronuclei and vitamin B in inflammatory bowel disease patients. Vitamin B deficiency in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is well-documented; however, few studies have explored genomic damage in patients with IBD using the cytokinesis-block micronucleus cytome (CBMN-Cyt) assay. This study investigated the frequency of micronuclei (MNi) using the CBMN-Cyt assay and the level of vitamin B in patients with IBD. This prospective study was conducted in 15 patients with ulcerative colitis, 15 patients with Crohn’s disease, and 30 healthy controls from one tertiary hospital. Serum vitamin B and homocysteine levels were measured, and the MNi status was analyzed using the CBMN-Cyt assay. The patients with IBD showed significantly lower serum pyridoxine levels and significantly higher homocysteine levels than controls. The frequencies of binucleated cells (BNCs) with MNi, nucleoplasmic bridges (NPBs), and nuclear buds (Nbuds) were 8.5 [5.8–13.5], 1.0 [0.0–1.9], and 5.4 [4.3–7.4] for the IBD group, and 5.9 [4.8–7.7], 0.2 [0.0–1.0], and 3.5 [2.9–5.4] for the control group (P = 0.011, P = 0.010, and P = 0.002), respectively. This study suggests that patients with IBD have increased frequencies of MNi and decreased levels of pyridoxine than healthy controls.