Bloom's Syndrome Fibroblasts Research Articles

Frequencies of Sister Chromatid Exchanges in Bloom's Syndrome Fibroblasts

Frequencies of Sister Chromatid Exchanges in Bloom's Syndrome Fibroblasts

Increased amounts of hybrid (heavy/heavy) DNA in bloom's syndrome fibroblasts

The nuclear DNA of fibroblasts from patients suffering with Bloom's syndrome, density labeled for less than one round of DNA replication to give heavy/light molecules, was examined for spontaneous amounts of heavy/heavy DNA (hybrid DNA). When compared to normal fibroblasts the Bloom's syndrome cells exhibited a sixfold increase in such DNA.

Suppression of the frequencies of sister chromatid exchanges in Bloom's syndrome fibroblasts by co-cultivation with Chinese hamster cells.

The effect of co-cultivation of Bloom's syndrome fibroblasts with Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO) on the incidence of sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) was studied. The results show that suppression of the frequency of SCEs in Bloom's syndrome cells occurs only if cell to cell contact is present with CHO cells, without any effect on the SCE frequency in the latter. It is suggested that possible genetic heterogeneity between different Bloom's syndrome patients can be studied using the method of co-cultivation.

DNA repair enzymes in ataxia telangiectasia and Bloom's syndrome fibroblasts

Ataxia telangiectasia, Bloom's syndrome and normal fibroblasts were compared as to the capacity of their cellular extracts to enhance the priming activity of γ-irradiated colicin E1 DNA for purified DNA polymerase. It was found that an ataxia strain had substantially lower, and a Bloom's syndrome strain had slightly lower capacity than a normal strain; while the activities of apurinic site specific endonuclease in these extracts were comparable.

Ultraviolet light sensitivity and delayed DNA-chain maturation in Bloom's syndrome fibroblasts.

BLOOM'S syndrome (BS) is a rare, autosomal recessive condition of pre-natal and post-natal growth retardation, sun-induced telangiectatic erythema, impaired immunological function and predisposition to cancer1,2. BS cells show a high incidence of chromosome breakage and rearrangement often with abnormal nuclear morphology. Chromosome exchanges appear mainly to involve homologous chromosomes, while sister chromatid exchanges are abnormally frequent3. These features suggest a defect of DNA replication or repair. In particular, the high incidence of sister chromatid exchanges may be explained if free ends in the DNA, resulting from abnormalities of DNA synthesis and/or repair, act as initiation points for exchange4. We report here that BS fibroblasts are abnormally sensitive to ultraviolet irradiation in vitro and show a rate of DNA synthesis and DNA chain maturation lower than controls. They do not, however, have defective bypass of ultraviolet light-induced lesions during DNA replication as xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) variants5.