Nuclear DNA polymerases of human carcinomas.

Comparisons have been made of the DNA polymerases of normal human lung and cecum, primary carcinomas of human lung, breast, and cecum, and resting and regeneration rat liver. The picture for the normal human tissues is similar to the one for unstimulated rat liver, that for the human carcinomas resembles regenerating rat liver. The human tissues contain two polymerases with sedimentation coefficients of about 3 and 7 S, the enzymes are restricted to the nucleus, and the specific activities of the 7 S polymerase, but not of the 3 S enzyme, are elevated in the cancers. Just as with the regenerating rat liver polymerases, the 3 S activity of a bronchogenic carcinoma is unaffected by cytosine arabinoside 5'-triphosphate and only little reduced by novobiocin, whereas DNA synthesis by the 7 S enzyme is abolished by both compounds. A variety of other inhibitory agents have similar effects on the 7 S polymerases of the human carcinomas and regenerating rat liver.