Enhanced Chromatid Damage in Blood Lymphocytes After G 2 Phase X Irradiation, a Marker of the Ataxia-Telangiectasia Gene
- 20 June 1990
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute
- Vol. 82 (12) , 1050-1054
- https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/82.12.1050
Abstract
An assay for ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) heterozygotes, i.e., healthy carriers of the A-T gene(s), requiring only a small sample (3.5 mL) of peripheral blood, is described. Frequencies of chromatid aberrations in phytohemagglutinin-stimulated blood lymphocytes collected by demecolcine from 0.5 hour to 1.5 hours after x irradiation with 58 roentgens were twofold to threefold higher in A-T heterozygotes than in clinically normal controls and twofold to threefold higher in A-T patients (homozygotes) than in A-T gene carriers. The persistence of chromatid breaks and gaps in lymphocytes following radiation-induced DNA damage during G 2 suggests a deficiency or deficiencies in DNA repair that may be the defect at the molecular level that results in the enhanced radiosensitivity and cancer proneness characterizing A-T gene carriers and patients. [J Natl Cancer Inst 82:1050–1054, 1990]Keywords
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