Formation of DNA strand breaks in UV-irradiated human fibroblast preparations

Effect of XPA gene mutations on UV-induced immunostaining of PCNA in fibroblasts from xeroderma pigmentosum group A patients

We have investigated the relationship between XPA gene mutations and PCNA complex formation in the nucleotide excision repair (NER) process utilizing cells derived from various xeroderma pigmentosum group A (XP-A) patients. The PCNA complex formation was detected by PCNA immunostaining following methanol fixation. Results indicated that UV-induced PCNA staining at early stages was well correlated to the function of XPA protein and provided evidence that XPA protein-related recognition step was tightly linked to PCNA-associated events in the NER process in vivo.

Trypsin-induced changes in cell shape and chromatin structure result in radiosensitization of monolayer Chinese hamster V79 cells

Trypsin is the enzyme commonly used to prepare single cell suspensions from monolayer and spheroid cultures, both to determine survival and to assay DNA damage. Trypsin induces rounding, dissociation and radiosensitization of anchorage-dependent cells. Radiosensitivity and chromatin structure were compared between trypsin-treated (0.05%) round V79 cells from monolayers and spheroids vs. untreated spread monolayer cells in situ. The fluorescent halo technique was used to measure the changes in DNA supercoiling in nucleoids isolated from control and irradiated round and spread cells. Maximal halo diameters, the amount of initial and residual radiation-induced DNA damage (estimated from nucleoid halo diameter changes), and the radiosensitivity were higher in round cells than in spread monolayer V79 cells. The effects on cellular radiosensitivity and maximal halo diameter of other agents which also round and dissociate cells, e.g. 0.25% trypsin, pronase E and a non-enzymatic cell-dissociation solution, were similar to those of 0.05% trypsin. In LY-S cells, which are anchorage-independent, DNA loop size, the initial amount of DNA damage and radiosensitivity were not affected by trypsin. We suggest that the higher radiosensitivity of anchorage-dependent cells under immediate trypsinization and plating conditions, compared to cells with postirradiation in situ repair incubation, is due to correlated changes in cell shape and chromatin structure.

The mode of action of 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine in inhibiting DNA repair; new evidence using a sensitive assay for repair DNA synthesis and ligation in permeable cells

Mammalian cells permeabilised by treatment with saponin are capable of UV excision repair. We have developed an assay system which permits measurement of the later stages of repair, i.e. repair synthesis and ligation. Incomplete repair sites are accumulated in UV-irradiated cells by incubating them with DNA synthesis inhibitors hydroxyurea and aphidicolin. On removal of the inhibitors at the time of permeabilisation, these incomplete sites, detected as DNA breaks, are rapidly ligated in a reaction that requires deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates and is blocked by aphidicolin. Thus ligation is possible only after a significant amount of DNA synthesis. We have used the assay to clarify the mode of inhibition of DNA repair by 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine (ara C), another DNA polymerase inhibitor. It is well known that incomplete repair sites accumulated in whole cells with ara C are ligated at a slow rate, if at all. The hypothesis that ara C blocks or reduces further polymerisation after its incorporation into repair patches is disproved by our demonstration that, in permeable cells, the accumulated DNA breaks are ligated very rapidly. The likely explanation of the action of ara C is that, once phosphorylated, it remains in the cell as ara CTP and continues to inhibit polymerisation through competition with dCTP; in permeable cells, it readily leaks out.

DNA repair endonuclease activity during synchronous growth of diploid human fibroblasts

DNA-repair endonuclease activity in response to UV-induced DNA damage was quantified in diploid human fibroblasts after synchronizing cell cultures to selected stages of the cell cycle. Incubation of irradiated cells with aphidicolin, an inhibitor of DNA polymerases alpha and delta, delayed the sealing of repair patches and allowed estimation of rates of strand incision by the repair endonuclease. The apparent Vmax for endonucleolytic incision and Km for substrate utilization were determined by Lineweaver-Burk and Eadie-Hofstee analyses. For cells passing through G1, S or G2, Vmax for reparative incision was, respectively, 7.6, 8.4 and 8.4 breaks/10(10) Da per min, suggesting that there was little variation in incision activity during these cell-cycle phases. The Km values of 2.4-3.1 J/m2 for these cells indicate that the nucleotidyl DNA excision-repair pathway operates with maximal effectiveness after low fluences of UV that are in the shoulder region of survival curves. Fibroblasts in mitosis demonstrated a severe attenuation of reparative incision. Rates of incision were 11% of those seen in G2 cells. Disruption of nuclear structure during mitosis may reduce the effective concentration of endonuclease in the vicinity of damaged chromatin. The extreme condensation of chromatin during mitosis also may restrict the accessibility of reparative endonuclease to sites of DNA damage. Confluence-arrested fibroblasts in G0 expressed endonuclease activity with Vmax of 5.5 breaks/10(10) Da per min and a Km of 5.5 J/m2. The greater condensation of chromatin in quiescent cells may restrict the accessibility of endonuclease to dimers and so explain the elevated Km. When fibroblasts were synchronized by serum-deprivation, little variation in reparative endonuclease activity was discerned as released cells transited from early G1 through late G1 and early S. Proliferating fibroblasts in G1 were shown to express comparatively high numbers of reparative incision events in the absence of aphidicolin which was normally used to inhibit DNA polymerases and hold repair patches open. It was calculated that in G0, S and G2 phase cells, single-strand breaks at sites of repair remained open for 30, 19 and 14 sec, respectively. In G1 phase cells, repair sites remained open for 126 sec. Addition of deoxyribonucleosides to G1 cells reduced this time to 42 sec suggesting that the slower rate of synthesis and ligation of repair patches in G1 was due to a relative deficiency of deoxyribonucleotidyl precursors for DNA polymerase.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Effects of trypsin on X-ray-induced cell killing, chromosome abnormalities and kinetics of DNA repair in mammalian cells

When cells are trypsinized before irradiation a potentiation of X-ray damage may occur. This is known as the 'trypsin effect'. Potentiation of X-ray damage on cell killing was seen in V79 Chinese hamster cells but was marginal in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO K1) cells and not evident in murine Ehrlich ascites tumour (EAT) cells. Trypsinization did however increase the number of X-ray-induced chromosomal abnormalities in all 3 lines. To investigate the possibility that trypsin acts by digestion of proteins in chromatin, further experiments were performed to monitor DNA damage and repair. Induction of DNA breaks by X-rays was unaffected by trypsin but trypsinized EAT (suspension) cells repaired single-strand breaks (ssb) less rapidly than controls indicating an inhibitory effect of trypsin on ssb repair. However double-strand break (dsb) repair was unaffected by trypsin. It was also found that the EDTA solution in which the trypsin was dissolved also contributes to the inhibition of dsb repair. The results show that trypsinization can enhance X-ray-induced cell killing, chromosomal damage and DNA repair, the effect varying between cell lines.

Trypsinization and the radiosensitivity of mitotic and log phase Chinese hamster V79 cells exposed to 250 kVp X-rays

We studied the influence of trypsin-induced morphological changes on the radiosensitivity of cells plated at either low (4-600/cm2) or high (2 x 10(4)/cm2) density and grown overnight before treatments. Trypsin treatment induced contraction and rounding of spread cells. The radiosensitivity of cells trypsinized and plated either: (1) immediately before [(a) D0 = 1.7 Gy for cells at low-, and (b) 1.5 Gy at high-density] or (2) immediately after (D0 = 1.6 Gy, high-density cells) irradiation was higher than that of (3) cells at high density, irradiated and delayed plated [cells remained spread until the completion of potentially lethal damage repair (PLDR) and trypsinization, D0 = 2.2 Gy], and (4) cells at low density which were neither delayed plated nor trypsinized (i.e. remained spread) after irradiation (Do = 2.4 Gy). These data show that PLDR is reduced in trypsin-treated cells of both high (compare 1b and 2 with 3) and low (compare 1a with 4) density cultures; the latter comparison provides a direct measure of the trypsin effect. Since the comparison between conditions 1 and 2 vs. 3 and 4 is of round vs. spread cells, PLDR appears to be influenced by the cell's morphological state. Kinetic studies showed that when cells were incubated in growth medium to recover from trypsin-induced effects before irradiation, the radiation sensitivity of spread cells (plated in situ), but not of those remaining rounded (in suspension until plating and irradiation), decreased and became equal to that of delayed plated high-density cells. Neither irradiated cells treated with hypertonic saline, nor mitotic cells, showed the trypsin effect. From these results we suggest that: (1) trypsin-induced cell contraction affects the ability of cells to repair radiation damage, (2) spread cells are better able to repair PLD than rounded cells, (3) immediate plating survival of cells in high-density cultures may not represent their intrinsic radiosensitivity and (4) cell-to-cell contact is not necessary for log phase cells to repair PLD.

Reparative strand incision in saponin-permeabilized human fibroblasts

The damage-directed strand incision step in the nucleotidyl DNA excision-repair pathway (NDERP) was characterized in quiescent monolayer cultures of human fibroblasts in which the plasma membrane was selectively permeabilized with saponin. When permeable normal human fibroblasts (NHF) were incubated in a DNA-repair assay mixture lacking the deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate precursors, the numbers of UV-dependent DNA-strand breaks were increased by about 9-fold consistent with the uncoupling of incision from gap-filling DNA synthesis and ligation. In uncoupled NHF omission of ATP reduced the numbers of UV-dependent strand breaks by 84% confirming the requirement for ATP for reparative strand incision. Time-course experiments indicated that the maximum rate of strand incision occurred in the first 10 min of incubation of permeable cells and diminished to 16-28% of this rate between 30 and 60 min of incubation. The initial rate of incision in permeable NHF was estimated to be 20% of that seen in intact fibroblasts. Dose-response studies indicated an initial saturation of strand incision activity at fluences between 10 and 25 J/m2. In permeable group A xeroderma pigmentosum fibroblasts (XPA) few UV-dependent incisions were produced after 10-25 J/m2. In the xeroderma pigmentosum variant (XPV) strain that we studied, strand incisions saturated at a plateau level that was about twice that seen in the NHF strain suggesting the preservation of a higher level of incision activity after permeabilization. After fluences above 50 J/m2 additional strand incision was observed in all cell strains reflecting the activity of a damage-dependent endodeoxyribonuclease that is independent of the NDERP. Saponin-treated fibroblasts were also permeable to pancreatic deoxyribonuclease I and the UV-DNA endonuclease from M. luteus indicating that these preparations may be used for in vitro complementation.

Factors influencing the initiation by gamma rays of hepatocarcinogenesis in the rat

F344 male rats were irradiated once with 6 G of cesium 137 gamma rays at various times after a two-thirds partial hepatectomy (PH) and then fed a diet containing the liver tumor promoter phenobarbital to evoke the expression of initiated hepatocytes. Yields of hepatocellular neoplasms were enumerated at 45 weeks after irradiation. Although proliferating hepatocytes in regenerating livers appeared to have increased risk of initiation by gamma rays, there was no apparent variation in risk among groups that were treated at times when hepatocytes were in different portions of the cell cycle (G1, S, G2/M). Gamma irradiation delayed the onsets of DNA synthesis and mitosis by proliferating hepatocytes by 18-20 h. The rate of rejoining of radiation-induced DNA strand breaks was analyzed in primary cultures of hepatocytes; 98% of the strand breaks were rejoined within 30 min after irradiation. Efficient repair of certain types of radiation-induced damage to DNA before the damaged DNA is replicated should cause a substantial reduction in the probability of induction of base-substitution mutations. Hepatocellular islands and neoplasms that were initiated by gamma rays may be derived from proliferating hepatocytes which incurred other radiation-induced DNA damages such as chromosomal aberrations.