DNA repair and human pathology.

Disorders in the DNA repair in the human lymphocytes isolated from patients with Marfan's syndrome, homocystinuria, schizophrenia, and gout have been found. In this investigation criteria used estimating the DNA repair were the following: host cell reactivation (vaccinia virus reactivation) and its mutagenesis, DNA repair synthesis, resynthesis of DNA breakages. Lymphoblastoid interferon was used as a modulator of DNA repair activity. Pretreatment of normal human cells with interferon stimulated all steps of DNA repair. In human cells with disorders, interferon stimulated DNA repair (XP) in some cases but failed in others.