title: Differential repair of 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine-detectable sites in DNA of human fibroblasts exposed to ultraviolet light and 4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide.
abstract: The extent of DNA excision repair was determined in dermal fibroblast strains from clinically normal and xeroderma pigmentosum (XP; complementation group A) human donors after single or combined exposures to 254-nm ultraviolet light and 4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide (4NQO). The repair was monitored by incubation of the treated cultures in the presence of 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine (araC), a potent inhibitor of long-patch excision repair, followed by quantitation of araC-accumulated DNA single-strand breaks (representing repair events) by velocity sedimentation analysis in alkaline sucrose gradients. The amount of repair in normal fibroblast strains increased as a function of UV fluence and reached a plateau at 15 J/m2; strand breaks were not detected when these same cultures were irradiated with as much as 60 J/m2 UV and incubated in the absence of araC, implying that an initial (incision) step is rate-limiting in the repair of UV damage. In normal fibroblasts (i) the incidence of araC-detectable lesions removed during fixed intervals following exposure to 4NQO (4 microM; 30 min) was approximately 2.5 times greater than that seen following irradiation with repair-saturating fluences (greater than or equal to 15 J/m2) of UV-rays; and (ii) the amount of repair in cultures treated simultaneously with 4NQO (0.5-6 microM; 30 min) and a repair-saturating fluence of UV (20 J/m2) was found to approach the sum of that arising from exposure to each separately. The XP cells (XP12BE) exhibited a deficiency in the removal of araC-detectable DNA lesions following exposure to either of the carcinogens. Since araC is known to inhibit the repair of alkali-stable 4NQO-DNA adducts (i.e., lesions assumed to be removed by the UV-like excision pathway) but not that of alkali-labile sites (i.e., DNA lesions operated on by the X-ray-like repair pathway), our results strongly imply that the multistep excision-repair pathway operative on UV photoproducts in human fibroblasts differs from that responsible for removing alkali-stable (araC-detectable) 4NQO adducts by at least one step, presumably the rate-limiting incision reaction mediated by a lesion-recognizing endonuclease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Cross Cancer Institute, Edmonton, Alb., Canada.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mirzayans
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Paterson
mesh_terms: D015112:4-Nitroquinoline-1-oxide / Q000633:toxicity*; D002460:Cell Line; D002499:Centrifugation, Density Gradient; D003561:Cytarabine / Q000032:analysis; D004249:DNA Damage / Q000235:genetics; D004260:DNA Repair / Q000502:physiology*; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded / Q000378:metabolism; D005347:Fibroblasts; D006801:Humans; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays; D014983:Xeroderma Pigmentosum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded; D003561:Cytarabine; D015112:4-Nitroquinoline-1-oxide