CORRECTION OF THE BLOOM-SYNDROME CELLULAR PHENOTYPES

Bloom syndrome (BLM) is a genetic disorder-associated with predisposit ion to cancer and chromosome instability. However, the most readily re cognized clinical feature of the syndrome is growth retardation. Intro duction of the previously cloned BLM gene into BLM cells yielded corre ction of the chromosome instability and slow growth phenotypes. Additi onally, asynchronous cultures of complemented clones revealed a lower percentage of cells in S-phase than uncomplemented BLM cells. These re sults support the notion that BLM is a defect in which short stature, chromosome instability and cancer predisposition are all associated wi th an error in DNA replication.