DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) is thought to play a pivotal role in DNA double-strand break repair. We recently demonstrated the association of DNA-PK activity in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) with the incidence of chromosomal aberrations and the risk of cancer. In this study, we applied cDNA array technology to find the expression of genes which are associated with DNA-PK activity in PBLs with various levels of DNA-PK activity. Most genes correlated with DNA-PK activity involved cell cycle regulation. Moreover, the transcription factor E2F1, which plays an important role in cell cycle progression, exhibited strong correlation with the DNA-PK activity and Rbp130, which is considered a negative regulator of E2F, showed inverse correlation with DNA-PK activity. In silico promoter analyses showed the presence of at least one E2F binding site in the promoter regions of Ku70, Ku86, DNA-PKcs and genes associated with DNA-PK activity. In order to examine the relationship among the E2F1 expression, the expression of genes related with DNA-PK activity, and DNA-PK activity, we activated PMLs by PHA to progress the cell cycle. After PHA activation of PML, the expression of E2F1 and DNA-PK activity increased. The expression of most genes in PHA-stimulated PBLs had a similar relationship with DNA-PK activity to that without PHA stimulation. These results indicate that the E2F transcription factor may regulate the concerted expression of genes related with DNA-PK activity.

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