Chronic gamma-radiation sensitivity of skin fibroblasts from patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL).

Cultured skin fibroblasts from 11 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), 3 with ataxia telangiectasia (AT), 3 AT heterozygotes and 6 healthy subjects were studied for impaired colony-forming ability upon chronic exposure to gamma-radiation. A comparison of survival curves of the different cell lines revealed an AT heterozygote-like response (intermediate radiosensitivity) in 8 (73%) out of 11 NHL patients. These results suggested that the majority of the NHL patients may have an underlying abnormality of DNA repair.