Induction of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) complex formation in quiescent fibroblasts from a xeroderma pigmentosum patient.

Accumulated evidence indicates that proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) is an auxiliary protein of DNA polymerase delta and forms tight association with DNA replication sites during DNA replication or DNA repair synthesis. In this study, such PCNA complex formation was investigated by the indirect immunofluorescence method, using both normal human fibroblasts and those derived from a xeroderma pigmentosum group A (XP-A) patient. XP-A fibroblasts in both proliferating and quiescent states did not show any differences from normal fibroblasts in the properties of PCNA-staining in the untreated conditions. The PCNA complex formation was induced in quiescent normal fibroblasts by both ultraviolet light (UV)- and X-irradiation, whereas in XP-A fibroblasts it was induced by X-irradiation, but not by UV-irradiation. However, PCNA complex was induced in quiescent XP-A fibroblasts by UV-irradiation when the cells had previously incorporated 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU). These observations indicate a close correlation of PCNA complex formation and unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS). Thus, it was concluded that PCNA complex formation was commonly induced in at least three conditions to produce UDS in spite of different types of DNA damages and DNA repair mechanisms.