THE PATTERN OF ADRIAMYCIN-INDUCED MUTATIONS IN V-E5 CHINESE-HAMSTER CELLS WITH CHROMOSOMAL INSTABILITY

The V-E5 cell line, a mutant V79 Chinese hamster cell line, was used t o study the effect of chromosomal instability on the spectrum of gene mutations and chromosome aberrations induced by the anthracycline anti biotic adriamycin (AM). V-E5 cells showed hypersensitivity to the cyto toxic effects of AM when compared to the parental cell line. AM caused both, chromosome-type aberrations and chromatid-type aberrations in V -E5 cells. Under the same experimental conditions, gene mutations were induced at the hprt locus which mainly represented deletion mutations . The spectrum of AM-induced chromosomal aberrations and gene mutation s did not show any peculiarities in comparison to normal V79 cells. It is concluded that the genomic instability in V-E5 cells does not infl uence the pathways leading to chromosome aberrations and gene mutation s after AM treatment.