Abstract IA17: Developing improved methods to measure human DNA repair capacity

Abstract

Abstract The Samson lab has been developing potentially high-throughput methods for measuring DNA repair capacity (DRC) in human cells. These approaches are modeled on the pioneering work of the late Professor Lawrence Grossman and rely on the transfection of plasmids containing specific types of DNA damage and then monitoring the repair of that damage by the expression of a reporter gene that is poorly expressed in the absence of repair. One of our goals is to simultaneously measure DRC for a variety of DNA repair pathways using a multiplexed approach and a collection of fluorescent proteins of different color. So far we have developed methods for measuring relative levels of nucleotide excision repair, homologous recombination, DNA mismatch repair, and MGMT mediated repair. We are currently extending this approach to encompass other DNA repair pathways. Measuring DNA repair capacity in various human cell types may help predict inter-individual differences in the ability of people to respond upon exposure to environmental agents and thus predict their cancer susceptibility. Moreover, knowing the DNA repair capacity of tumor cells for different types of DNA damage could help in choosing more effective chemotherapy regimens. Citation Format: Leona D. Samson. Developing improved methods to measure human DNA repair capacity [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Chemical Systems Biology: Assembling and Interrogating Computational Models of the Cancer Cell by Chemical Perturbations; 2012 Jun 27-30; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(13 Suppl):Abstract nr IA17.