Synergistic enhancement of the frequency of chromatid aberrations in cultured human lymphocytes by combinations of inhibitors of DNA repair.

Whole-blood cultures of human lymphocytes were exposed in the G2-phase to caffeine and to 4 inhibitors of DNA synthesis, hydroxyurea (HU), 2'-deoxyadenosine (dAdo), 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine (araC) and aphidicolin (Aph), either individually or in pairs resulting in 10 different possible combinations. Since dAdo is rapidly deaminated in whole-blood cultures, all treatments involving dAdo were carried out in the presence of an inhibitor of the enzyme adenosine deaminase (ADA). The G2-treatments were carried out on 3 different types of culture, (1) cultures that had not previously been exposed to any mutagenic treatment, (2) cultures that had been irradiated with 0.4 Gy of X-rays 3.5 h before harvesting, and (3) cultures that had been exposed for 2 h to 4 X 10(-5) M thiotepa (TT) in G0 immediately before stimulation with phytohaemagglutinin. The aim of the study was to find out in which combinations the inhibitors enhanced synergistically the frequencies of spontaneous and induced chromatid aberrations. In all 3 types of experiment, synergistic effects were observed with most of the 10 combinations, those involving HU being particularly effective. A very strong synergistic enhancement was also obtained when dAdo was combined with Aph.