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Recombinant methods for screening human DNA excision repair proficiency

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:5513156
A method for measuring DNA excision repair in response to ultraviolet radiation (UV)-induced DNA damage has been developed, validated, and field-tested in cultured human lymphocytes. The methodology is amenable to population-based screening and should facilitate future epidemiologic studies seeking to investigate associations between excision repair proficiency and cancer susceptibility. The impetus for such endeavors derives from the belief that the high incidence of skin cancer in the genetic disorder xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) primarily is a result of the reduced capacity of patients cells to repair UV-induced DNA damage. For assay, UV-irradiated non-replicating recombinant plasmid DNA harboring a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) indicator gene is introduced into lymphocytes using DEAE-dextran short-term transfection conditions. Exposure to UV induces transcriptionally-inactivating DNA photoproducts in the plasmid DNA which inactivate CAT gene expression. Excision repair of the damaged CAT gene is monitored indirectly as a function of reactivated CAT enzyme activity following a 40 hour repair/expression incubation period.
Research Organization:
Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (USA)
OSTI ID:
5513156
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English