Induction of DNA breakage in X-irradiated nucleoids selectively stripped of nuclear proteins in two mouse lymphoma cell lines differing in radiosensitivity

The role of nuclear proteins in protection of DNA against ionizing radiation and their contribution to the radiation sensitivity was examined by an alkaline version of comet assay in two L5178Y (LY) mouse lymphoma cell lines differing in sensitivity to ionizing radiation. LY-S cells are twice more sensitive to ionizing radiation than LY-R cells (D0 values of survival curves are 0.5 Gy and 1 Gy, respectively). Sequential removal of nuclear proteins by extraction with NaCl of different concentrations increased the X-ray induced DNA damage in LY-R nucleoids. In contrast, in the radiation sensitive LY-S cell line, depletion of nuclear proteins practically did not affect DNA damage. Although there is no doubt that the main cause of LY-S cells' sensitivity to ionizing radiation is a defect in the repair of double-strand breaks, our data support the concept that nuclear matrix organisation may contribute to the cellular susceptibility to DNA damaging agents.