Radiation-induced arrest of cells in G2 phase elicits hypersensitivity to DNA double-strand break inducers and an altered pattern of DNA cleavage upon re-irradiation.
OBJECTIVE
To determine how radiation-induced arrest in G2 affects the response of mammalian cells to a challenging dose of radiation or to antitumour drugs producing DNA double-strand breaks.


METHODS
V79 fibroblast survival to 5 Gy gamma-rays followed at intervals by 3 Gy irradiation or by contact with an equitoxic dose of neocarzinostatin or etoposide, was measured by clonogenic assays. The pattern of radiation-induced DNA double-strand breaks was determined by filter elution and CFGE (continuous field gel electrophoresis) or PFGE (pulsed-field gel electrophoresis) in G2-arrested cells as well as in nonpre-irradiated asynchronous or synchronized cells. The cell-cycle phase specificity of drug susceptibility was determined in synchronized HeLa cells.


RESULTS
Cell kill by radiation-drug combined treatment varied markedly with the time elapsed after priming irradiation. Pre-irradiated, G2-arrested V79 fibroblasts demonstrated excess double-stranded DNA cleavage upon re-irradiation and hypersensitivity to drugs and radiation, although maximum resistance to both neocarzinostatin and etoposide in synchronized HeLa cells was in G2. This effect occurred in the megabase range only, with a peak around 4 Mbp; no change in the electrophoretic migration profile of DNA was observed below 1 Mbp. Moreover, the DNA migration profile and the yield of DNA cleavage in G2-arrested cells were close to those expected from S-phase cells.


CONCLUSIONS
The available data suggest that mechanisms operating within the radiation-induced G2 block promote susceptibility to DNA double-strand break inducers at this stage. It is also proposed that the conformation of DNA in cells accumulated in G2 following irradiation bears resemblance to that for cells in S phase, due either to active repair mechanisms or to inhibition of chromosome disentanglement at the S-G2 transition.
Yu
Y Q
YQ
Unité 350 INSERM, Institut Curie-Recherche, Laboratoires Raymond-Latarjet, Centre Universitaire, Orsay, France.
Giocanti
N
N
Averbeck
D
D
Megnin-Chanet
F
F
Favaudon
V
V
D000818:Animals; D006224:Cricetinae; D004247:DNA / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects*; D004249:DNA Damage; D016195:G2 Phase / Q000528:radiation effects*; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans
D004247:DNA