Two types of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) complex formation in quiescent normal and xeroderma pigmentosum group A fibroblasts following ultraviolet light (uv) irradiation.

We examined the relationship between the formation of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) complex with DNA and nucleotide excision repair in human fibroblasts following ultraviolet light (uv) irradiation. PCNA complex formation was detected by the immunofluorescence method after methanol fixation and nucleotide excision repair activity was detected as the unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS) by autoradiography labeled with [3H]thymidine. Quiescent normal cells showed a strong punctuated pattern of PCNA staining 5 min to 3 h and UDS 3 h after 10 J/m2 of uv irradiation, but they no longer showed PCNA staining and UDS 24 h after irradiation. In contrast, xeroderma pigmentosum group A (XP-A) cells, which lack UDS activity, did not show PCNA staining up to 30 min after irradiation; however, unexpectedly, they were stained 3 h and even 24 h after irradiation with their staining pattern being different from that in normal cells. Namely, the fluorescence spots in XP-A cells were larger in size and much smaller in number than those in normal cells. When XP-A cells were fused with normal cells with polyethylene glycol treatment, nuclei of XP-A cells showed a PCNA staining pattern similar to that of normal cells at 30 min, which was no longer detected 24 h after irradiation. These results suggest that there exist two types of PCNA complex formation, nucleotide excision repair-related and -unrelated, in human fibroblasts following uv irradiation.