Patients suffering from the genetic disorder xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) display an extreme sensitivity of their skin to sun (UV) exposure and predisposition to skin cancer due to deficiencies in the excision DNA repair pathway. Here we describe the establishment and characteriza tion of the first tumor cell line derived from an XP patient (belonging to complementation group C). The melanoma cel...

Viruses that establish a persistent infection, involving intracellular latency, commonly stimulate cellular DNA synthesis and sometimes cell division early after infection. However, most cells of metazoans have evolved "fail-safe" responses that normally monitor unscheduled DNA synthesis and prevent cell proliferation when, for instance, cell proto-oncogenes are "activated" by mutation, amplifi...

Human cells lacking functional p53 exhibit a partial deficiency in nucleotide excision repair (NER), the pathway for repair of UV-induced DNA damage. The global genomic repair (GGR) subpathway of NER, but not transcription-coupled repair (TCR), is mainly affected by p53 loss or inactivation. We have utilized mouse embryo fibroblasts (MEFs) lacking p53 genes or downstream effector genes of the p...

Normal, nontumorous cells express cyclin proteins in an orderly, scheduled fashion, at a given phase of the cell cycle. Thus, cyclin B1 is synthesized during G2 and abruptly degraded during mitosis. The onset of cyclin E synthesis takes place in mid-G1, its maximal expression is at the time of cell entrance to S, and its degradation occurs during cell progression through S phase. In the present...

Human mononuclear leukocytes (HML) respond to oxidative DNA damage by activation of ADP ribosylation and initiation of DNA repair synthesis (i.e. unscheduled DNA synthesis, UDS), whereas neutrophils do not. When neutrophils are added to HML cultures in ratios up to 4:1 ADP ribosylation becomes inhibited to approximately 50-60%. The ability of neutrophils to inhibit HML ADP ribosylation was show...

Mammary carcinomas induced by the administration of 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA) to young virgin rats arise from undifferentiated terminal ductal structures called terminal end buds (TEBs). TEBs that normally differentiate into alveolar buds (ABs) and lobules under the influence of DMBA develop intraductal proliferations which progress to carcinoma. The high susceptibility of the young...

Ribonucleotide reductase consists of two nonidentical proteins, R1 and R2, and catalyzes the rate-limiting step in DNA precursor synthesis: the reduction of ribonucleotides to deoxyribonucleotides. A strictly balanced supply of deoxyribonucleotides is essential for both accurate DNA replication and repair. Therefore, ribonucleotide reductase activity is under exquisite control both transcriptio...

It is generally accepted that mitochondria are able to proliferate even in postmitotic cells due to their natural turnover and also to satisfy increased cell energy requirements. However, no detailed studies are available, particularly with respect to specific cell types. Since [3H]-thymidine is incorporated not only into nuclear (n) DNA but also into the DNA of cytoplasmic mitochondria, an aut...