Effect of caffeine in Fanconi anemia. I. Restoration of a normal duration of G2 phase.

In Fanconi anemia (FA) cells the duration of the G2 phase of the cell cycle prolonged. Such a slowing of the G2 phase can be induced in normal cells by irradiation with gamma rays during S phase, which also further increases the duration of G2 in FA cells. The addition of caffeine during the last 7 h of culture shortens the G2 phase in both nonirradiated and irradiated FA cells. In nonirradiated normal cells it may have no effect or may increase G2 phase duration, but in irradiated normal reduces the slowing of G2 induced by the radiation. This suggests that FA cells recognize and repair preexisting DNA lesions during G2 phase and that caffeine inhibits this process. The principal anomaly in FA may be a deficient repair during S phase, as manifest in the prolonged postreplication repair period during G2 phase required to repair the larger number of lesions passing through S phase.