Title: Unexpected sensitivity to radiation of fibroblasts from unaffected parents of children with hereditary retinoblastoma.

Authors: Fitzek, Markus M; Dahlberg, William K; Nagasawa, Hatsumi; Mukai, Shizuo; Munzenrider, John E; Little, John B

Published In Int J Cancer, (2002 Jun 10)

Abstract: The response to ionizing radiation was examined in diploid skin fibroblasts derived from 5 patients with hereditary type retinoblastoma as well as their parents. Unexpected sensitivity to cell killing, as measured by clonogenic survival, as well as enhanced radiation-induced G(1) arrest were observed in at least 1 parental fibroblast strain in all 5 families. In all cases, parental strains were equally or more radiosensitive than the probands. The mutation of the retinoblastoma gene (RB) determined in 4 of 5 probands was either absent from the parental cells, as expected from the negative family histories, or identical, in 1 father who was a known carrier. In the fifth family, the family history was negative for retinoblastoma. We hypothesize that the increased parental cell sensitivity to radiation suggests the presence of an as yet unrecognized genetic event occurring in 1 or both parents of children with retinoblastoma. Whether it increases mutability of the RB locus or other loci or interacts with RB is conjectural.

PubMed ID: 12115515

MeSH Terms: No MeSH terms associated with this publication