The chromosome analysis and susceptibility to transformation by Simian Virus 40 of fibroblasts from ataxia-telangiectasia.

Chromosome analyses are reported for 14 lines of fibro-blasts derived from 8 ataxia-telangiectasia (ATT) patients and for 14 lines of control cells. An elevated incidence of chromosome damage including gaps and breaks, rings, dicentrics and fragments, and chromosome figures has been found to occur in ATT cells. Similar abnormalities present in different cell lines suggest that common break points occur in ATT fibroblast chromosomes. The SV40 virus transformation rates found for ATT cells lie within the range found for normal cells, and there is no direct correlation between the degree of chromosome damage exhibited by any ATT cell line and its transformation rate with SV40.