Role of DNA repair in natural resistance of rat ascites hepatomas to nitrogen mustard.

Mechanism of natural resistance of rat ascites hepatomas to nitrogen mustard was examined with tumors, especially AH-13 and AH-44, sensitive and resistant to the chemical, respectively. There was found little difference in the uptake and binding of the chemical among the two lines. In contrast, DNA repair activity of the resistant line was higher than that of the sensitive line. This result suggested that natural resistance of AH-44 to the drug may be, at least partially, due to its higher activity of repairing DNA damage.