Delayed expression of enhanced reactivation and decreased mutagenesis of UV-irradiated adenovirus in UV-irradiated ataxia telangiectasia fibroblasts

In this study the authors examined UV-enhanced reactivation (UVER) and UV-enhanced mutagenesis (UVEM) of UV-irradiated adenovirus in AT fibroblasts. UVER factors for Ad V antigen expression were significantly less than normal in AT strains tested when infection occurred immediately after UV-irradiation of cells. However, UVER factors were >1 and similar to those found for normal strains when cells were infected 24 h after UV-irradiation, indicating delay in the expression of UVER for Ad V antigen in AT cells. UV-irradiation of both normal and AT cells 24 h prior to infection also resulted in a significant increase in progeny survival for UV-irradiated Ad. In normal cells, this progeny UVER was concomitant with a significant increase in the mutation frequency for UV-irradiated virus (increase in targeted mutagenesis) suggesting existence of an inducible error-prone DNA repair mode in normal human cells. In contrast, pre-UV-irradiation of AT cells resulted in a significant decrease in the mutation frequency for UV-irradiated virus. (author)