Hereditary orotic aciduria, Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, and xeroderma pigmentosum probed by herpes simplex virus: 125I-iododeoxycytidine incorporation as an assay for viral growth

Defective Ca2+ metabolism in Duchenne muscular dystrophy: effects on cellular and viral growth

Normal fibroblasts in medium containing 0.02 mM CaCl2 arrested growth within 24 hr, whereas Duchenne muscular dystrophy fibroblasts continued to grow for 5 days, albeit at 40% of their rate in standard medium (1.8 mM CaCl2). Moreover, Duchenne cells in calcium-deficient medium showed an enhanced rate of protein synthesis (60% over the rate in standard medium), whereas normal cells were unaffected. Previously we described a general assay for detection of mutant cells by using herpes simplex virus I replication as a probe of cellular function. By altering the growth medium, one can elicit changes in viral DNA replication that depend upon cellular differences. Duchenne fibroblasts in calcium-deficient low-serum (0.5%) medium supported viral replication at a rate 7- to 10-fold greater than did normal cells infected under the same conditions. Using this viral assay, we have successfully identified all 10 samples of a blind coded set of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, normal, and heterozygote cells. In addition, differences of a lower magnitude were found between these cell strains as measured by cellular growth or protein synthesis. Therefore, a cell's ability to grow and support viral replication in calcium-deficient medium can be used to readily distinguish Duchenne muscular dystrophy fibroblasts from normal ones. These results suggest that the viral assay could be used as a prenatal diagnostic test. A defect related to calcium metabolism may be fundamental to this disease.

The study of DNA-repair defects using [125I]iododeoxycytidine incorporation as an assay for the growth of herpes simplex virus

[125I]Iododeoxycytidine incorporation was used to measure herpes virus (HSV-1) DNA synthesis following specific DNA damage. Xeroderma pigmentosum fibroblasts were less able to replicate UV-irradiated viral DNA than were normal fibroblasts, indicating the necessity for excision repair for the survival of UV-irradiated virus. Because of its rapidity and ease of quantitation, this assay had advantages over standard viral mediated assays of DNA excision repair. It was possible to monitor viral replication as a function of the cellular cell cycle. Other genetic defects which have been proposed to reflect deficiencies in DNA-repair capacity were not detected by this assay. DNA-repair inhibitors, caffeine and 3-aminobenzamide, also did not show synergistic lethal effects on the replication of damaged viral DNA.