Investigation of the cell cycle response of normal and Fanconi's anaemia fibroblasts to nitrogen mustard using flow cytometry.

Cell survival has been measured in normal and Fanconi's anaemia (FA) human fibroblasts after treatment with the bifunctional alkylating agent, nitrogen mustard (HN2). Two FA cell lines exhibited 6- to 10-fold greater sensitivity than the normal cell line. Flow cytometry was used to investigate the effects of HN2 on cell cycle progression of normal and FA cells. After 0.1 microgram/ml HN2 (surviving fraction, s.f. = 0.8) normal cells exhibited an S phase accumulation within 6 h, followed by a transient G2 delay. At higher doses of HN2, the S phase delay became more pronounced and there was considerably greater accumulation of cells in G2. HN2 at 0.01 microgram/ml (s.f. = 0.8) induced no detectable S or G2 delay in FA cells. A higher dose, 0.1 microgram/ml (s.f. = 0.13 and 0.29), again induced no S phase delay, but a gradual accumulation of cells in G2 was observed up to 78 h after treatment. The presence of an S phase delay in normal cells after HN2 treatment may be important in allowing time for DNA repair before completion of DNA synthesis. The absence of such a delay in FA cells suggests that an inability to delay S phase traverse in response to DNA damage from bifunctional alkylating agents may contribute to the sensitivity of FA cells to such drugs.