Effects of low-doses of X-rays on the expression of human cell surface CD2 antigen in CD2+ CHO cells.

Thioguanine resistant CHO cells (HPRT-) were stably cotransfected with pSV2-gpt and pi H3-CD2 vectors using the calcium phosphate coprecipitation technique. The effects of single low doses of ionizing radiation were studied in a CD2+ CHO clone. The CD2+ phenotype responsible for binding sheep erythrocytes and rosette formation, was not affected by X-rays doses in the range 2-6 cGy. However, after 10 cGy of X-irradiation, 50% of the cells lost the CD2+ phenotype. These results suggest that this CD2+ clone might be a very sensitive indicator of very low X-ray doses. The implications of the phenotypic changes, observed after very low doses of irradiation, are discussed.