Localization of Rad51 protein in cells from patients with Fanconi Anemia D1 group

Abstract

Fanconi anemia (FA) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by skin pigmentation, high incidence of cancer, and a diverse variety of congenital malformations. The cells from FA patients display chromosome instability, and hypersensitivity to DNA cross-linking agents, such as mitomycin C. At least eight genes, FANCA to FANCG, are responsible for FA and, among them, FANCD1 revealed to be identical with breast cancer associated gene BRCA2. It have been reported that BRCA2 functions in homologous recombination repair by interacting with Rad51. In fact, CAPAN-1 cells expressing truncated BRCA2 protein show failure of nuclear localization of Rad51 in response to DNA damage and are sensitive to radiation. We report here that several FA-D1 cells show normal nuclear localization of Rad51, while they are radiation sensitive. By using DR-GFP system, we are assaying the ability of homologous recombination in FA-D1 cells. [J Radiat Res 44:411 (2003)]