NO ASSOCIATION BETWEEN P53 STATUS AND ALPHA-PARTICLE-INDUCED CHROMOSOMAL INSTABILITY IN HUMAN LYMPHOBLASTOID-CELLS

Previous work has demonstrated that alpha-particle irradiation of prim ary human bone marrow cells leads to the transmission of chromosomal i nstability in the descendants of the irradiated cell, although there i s some interindividual variation. We have extended these studies to hu man EBV-transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines in order to establish an in vitro model system. The five cell lines analyzed, including one fr om a Fanconi anaemia patient, exhibited high levels of persistent chro matid aberrations up to similar to 40 cell generations after alpha-irr adiation. The p53 status of the cell lines was defined according to wh ether cellular p53 levels were induced by irradiation, translocated to the nucleus and were able to bind a p53 DNA consensus recognition seq uence in vitro. Together with the primary bone marrow cell studies, we conclude that alpha-particle induced chromosomal instability is indep endent of the p53 status of the cell as defined in these studies.