Isolation and characterization of Chinese hamster ovary cell lines sensitive to mitomycin C and bleomycin.

Seven Chinese hamster ovary K1 cell lines exhibiting sensitivity to anticancer drugs have been isolated by a replica-plating technique. Five of the mutants are hypersensitive (approximately 7-fold, as judged by D37 values) to the DNA cross-linking agent mitomycin C. Of these, one is also appreciably sensitive to UV light. Significant variations in their cross-sensitivity to cis-platinum(II) diammine dichloride, chlorambucil, and Adriamycin have also been observed. Two additional mutants have been isolated on the basis of sensitivity to the radiomimetic agent bleomycin. One of these shows greater than 6-fold sensitivity to bleomycin, while the other is approximately 14 times more sensitive than the parental strain to bleomycin and is also hypersensitive to a number of other DNA-damaging agents, including cis-platinum(II) diammine dichloride, chlorambucil, X-rays, and UV light. Both bleomycin-sensitive mutants also exhibit some degree of sensitivity to Adriamycin. In all cases, the cell lines have been grown in continuous culture for 3 months without evidence of reversion and should act as suitable recipients in DNA transfection experiments aimed at identifying human DNA repair genes.