Detection of DNA single-strand breaks during the repair of UV damage in xeroderma pigmentosum cells.

In this investigation, xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) fibroblasts, XP12BE, were uv-irradiated and then incubated with cytosine arabinoside and hydroxyurea for 4 hr to inhibit the polymerase step of DNA excision repair. By alkaline elution, DNA single-strand breaks (SSB) were detected in XP cells with this regimen with an efficiency of 0.1-0.2 SSB per 10(9) daltons of DNA per J m-2. There was an approximately linear relation between the SSB frequency and uv dose over a range of 0.2 to 25 J m-2. This effect was approximately two orders of magnitude greater in excision-proficient normal human fibroblasts than in XP cells. These results support the conclusion that a low residual level of DNA excision repair occurs in XP group A cells and that the SSB generated during this repair can be accumulated with this polymerase inhibitor.