Showing papers by "Yosef Shiloh published in 1989"

Cellular and molecular characteristics of an immortalized ataxia-telangiectasia (group AB) cell line.

Abstract: Ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) is a multisystem hereditary disease featuring neurodegeneration, immunodeficiency, extreme cancer proneness, chromosomal instability, and radiosensitivity. A-T is found in many ethnic groups, and is genetically heterogeneous: four complementation groups have been identified in A-T so far. Attempts to isolate the A-T gene are based in part on gene transfer experiments, using permanent A-T fibroblast lines, obtained by transformation with SV40. “Immortalization” of A-T primary diploid fibroblasts using SV40 is difficult, possibly because of the chromosomal instability of these cells. The number of currently available permanent A-T fibroblast lines is small, and not all of them have been assigned to specific complementation groups. Using the assay of X-ray induced inhibition of DNA synthesis, we have assigned the A-T strain AT22IJE to complementation group AB. Origin-defective SV40 was used to transfect these cells, and one transformant (AT22IJE-T), which survived crisis, was found to have the typical characteristics of permanent cell lines obtained in this way. “In-gel renaturation” analysis did not show any DNA amplification of high degree in AT22IJE-T. Cytogenetic analysis showed considerable chromosomal instability in the new cell line, and medium conditioned by these cells contained the clastogenic activity which is characteristic of the parental strain as well. Other parameters of the “cellular A-T phenotype” have also been retained in the immortalized cells: hypersensitivity to the lethal effects of X-rays and neocarzinostatin, as well as “radioresistant” DNA synthesis. However, the sensitivity of AT22IJE-T to both DNA-damaging agents is less pronounced than that of the parental cells. The capacity of the cells for uptake of foreign DNA was tested by introducing into them the plasmid pRSVneo, using three different transfection methods. Satisfactory frequency of G418-resistant transfectants (0.66%) was achieved using a protocol recently published by Chen and Okayama (Mol. Cell Biol., 7: 2745–2752, 1987), which was found to be superior to the traditional calcium phosphate transfection method and to the polybrene-based method.

Amplification of c-myc and c-erbB-2 proto-oncogenes in human solid tumors: frequency and clinical significance.

Abstract: Molecular probes for cellular proto-oncogenes have recently been extensively used in order to search for functional and structural alterations in tumor tissues. Variable, and sometimes contradictory, results have been obtained regarding the frequency and clinical significance of amplification of the c-myc and c-erbB-2 proto-oncogenes in different series of human solid tumors. We addressed this question by performing Southern blotting analysis on 131 primary adult solid tumors of various tissues and 5 metastases of unknown origin, using molecular probes for both genes. Amplification of c-myc was found in 5 of the primary tumors, and amplification of c-erbB-2 in 5 others. In 2 tumors of the latter group, the c-erbB-2 gene was also rearranged. The distribution of these 10 tumors with regard to clinical stage and course of the disease did not point to an association between the amplification events and specific stage or prognosis. We concluded that, in this series, the amplification of both proto-oncogenes was occasional and was not a prognostic marker.

G2 chromosomal radiosensitivity in families with ataxia-telangiectasia.

Abstract: Ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) is an autosomal recessive disease involving chromosomal instability, susceptibility to cancer and X-ray hypersensitivity. The latter two features are expressed to a limited extent in the heterozygous carriers of A-T mutations. Although fibroblast lines from A-T heterozygotes clearly show increased susceptibility to the lethal effect of X-irradiation, the difference in post-irradiation survival between cell lines and normal controls is not always large enough to allow the use of X-ray sensitivity as a laboratory assay for carrier detection in A-T. Recently, we have shown in a blind study, that the extent of chromatid damage induced in the G2 phase of the cell cycle by moderate doses of X-rays is markedly higher in A-T heterozygous cells than in normal controls. We have now applied this test to 6 additional obligatory heterozygotes and 24 individuals with different risks of being A-T carriers, from three Israeli A-T families. All 6 cell lines from the obligatory heterozygotes showed the typical hypersensitivity to the clastogenic action of X-rays in G2; of the 24 cell lines with unknown A-T genotype, 16 showed the same hypersensitivity, and 8 responded in a normal way. The proportion of cell lines showing the “A-T-heterozygous phenotype” was in accord with the expected value, based on Mendelian chance calculations. Since these observations were made, a daughter of two hypersensitive parents in one of these families has been diagnosed as having A-T. This confirmed the presumed A-T heterozygosity of the parents, as indicated by the laboratory assay.

Ataxia-telangiectasia: a variant with altered in vitro phenotype of fibroblast cells

Abstract: The clinical and cellular phenotype of ataxia telangiectasia (AT) has been extensively documented in numerous patients of different ethnic groups and is characterized by several specific laboratory hallmarks, such as chromosomal instability, profound radiosensitivity and radioresistant DNA synthesis. Several recent reports have, however, shown variations on this theme. This article describes 2 Turkish siblings with AT, who showed a typical but somewhat more prolonged clinical course of the disease and altered characteristics of fibroblast cells, compared to the 'classical' AT cellular phenotype. Fibroblast strains derived from these patients showed a normal cellular life span, moderate degrees of chromosomal instability and sensitivity to the lethal effects of X-rays and neocarzinostatin, and lack of radioresistant DNA synthesis. A compilation of the literature on 'AT variants' and 'AT-like' syndromes shows that in addition to the internal variability of AT, this disease occupies a limited segment within a large spectrum of clinical and cellular features, which are common to a variety of syndromes. Each of these syndromes covers a different segment in this spectrum. The genetic basis of this family of disorders might be complex.