Regulation of DNA repair kinetics in proliferative and quiescent tumor cells.

The radiosensitivity and kinetics of repair of radiation-induced DNA damage were determined for proliferative (P) and quiescent (Q) cells of the mouse mammary adenocarcinoma line 67. 67 Q cells are more radiosensitive than 67 P cells. Radiation induced the same amount of DNA damage in both 67 P and 67 Q cells. Both 67 P and 67 Q cells repaired their DNA damage with biphasic kinetics, but the half-times for the fast and slow phase were longer in 67 Q cells. Q cell DNA appeared to be in a more compact or condensed chromatin structure and was less accessible to enzymatic digestion than P cell DNA. These data suggest that 67 Q cells are more sensitive to ionizing radiation than 67 P cells because they repair their radiation-induced DNA damage more slowly, perhaps as a result of their more condensed chromatin structure.