The human cell line F-IFr is a variant with an increased resistance to cell proliferation inhibition (CPI) by human interferon (HuLFN)-beta, established from RSa cells with high sensitivity to CPI. The parent RSa cells were recently found to be unusually hypermutable after irradiation with far-ultraviolet light (UV), as assessed by two different methods; estimation of the cloning efficiency of ouabain-resistant (Oua(R)) mutants and detection of K-ras codon 12 mutation in genomic DNA identified by polymerase chain reaction following differential dot blot hybridization. In the present study, F-IFr cells were found to be hypomutable; less than one Oua(R) mutant per 10(4) survival cells after UV (0-12 J/m(2)), in contrast to 0.51-85 Oua(R) mutants per 10(4) survivors in RSa cells, and no detectable K-ras codon 12 mutation at any UV dose tested. However, F-IFr cells, when cultured with medium containing the protease inhibitor antipain immediately and transiently after UV irradiation displayed hypermutability to almost the same extent as RSa cells by both phenotypic and genetic mutation analyses. The refractoriness of F-IFr cells to HuIFN-beta CPI was also suppressed by culture with medium containing antipain during HuIFN-beta exposure. Moreover, F-IFr cells irradiated with UV or treated with HuIFN-beta showed elevation of antipain-sensitive protease activity, but not the irradiated or treated RSa cells. UV- and HuIFN-beta-susceptibility were not modulated by antipain in RSa cells. These antipodal characteristics between the two cell lines suggested that antipain-sensitive proteases and/or cellular functions may be involved in increased resistance of F-IFr cells to both Wand HuIFN-beta refractoriness.

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