A UV-sensitive human clonal cell line, RSa, which has low repair activity.

The repair activity of a human transformed cell line, RSa, which was found to be highly sensitive to the lethal effects of 254 nm far-ultraviolet radiation, was compared with that of HeLa cells by evaluating the range of UV-induced incorporation of [methyl-3H]thymidine ([3H]dThd) or 5-[6-3H]bromodeoxyuridine ([3H]BrdUrd) into deoxyribonucleic acid. Direct scintillation counting was used for measuring the extent of unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS) in UV-irradiated cells, which were treated with hydroxyurea or with arginine deprivation. More quantitative measurements were made by using the density labeling and equilibrium centrifugation method for assaying repair replication. All the amounts of UDS and repair replication in RSa cells were markedly below those in HeLa cells. The possible relationships of the low repair activity to abnormally high UV sensitivity in RSa cells are discussed.