Defect in radiation signal transduction in ataxia-telangiectasia

Exposure of mammalian cells to ionizing radiation causes a delay in progression through the cycle at several checkpoints. Cells from patients with ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) ignore these checkpoint controls postirradiation. The tumour suppressor gene product p53 plays a key role at the G1/S checkpoint preventing the progression of cells into S phase. The induction of p53 by radiation is reduced and/or delayed in A-T cells, which appears to account for the failure of delay at the G1/S checkpoint. We have investigated further this defect in radiation signal transduction in A-T. While the p53 response was defective after radiation, agents that interfered with cell cycle progression such as mimosine, aphidicolin and deprivation of serum led to a normal p53 response in A-T cells. None of these agents caused breaks in DNA, as determined by pulse-field gel electrophoresis, in order to elicit the response. Since this pathway is mediated by protein kinases, we investigated the activity of several of these enzymes in control and A-T cells. Ca+2-dependent and -independent protein kinase C activities were increased by radiation to the same extent in the two cell types, a variety of serine/threonine protein kinase activities were approximately the same and anti-tyrosine antibodies failed to reveal any differences in protein phosphorylation between A-T and control cells. It is not evident what is the nature of the defect in signal transduction in A-T cells. However, it is clear that the p53 response is normal in these cells after exposure to some agents and it is mediated through protein kinase C or another serine/threonine kinase.