Sensitivity to chemical oxidants and radiation in CHO cell lines deficient in oxidative pentose cycle activity

In this paper we examine the susceptibility of a series of G6PD − CHO cell lines to a variety of chemical oxidants. Addition of these drugs to KID, the parental cell line, results in as much as a 20-fold increase in pentose cycle (PC) activity over control values. In two of our mutant lines, E16 and E48, little or no stimulation of PC activity is seen. These lines are shown to be much more susceptible to the toxic effects of the chemical oxidants t-butyl hydroperoxide and diamide. PC activity is also stimulated by ionizing radiation in KID cells. One of the G6PD −cell lines has an increased aerobic radiation response compared to the parental line. However, since this is not the case with the other G6PD − cell lines, it is unclear whether this represents a difference in the absolute value of PC activity or some additional variable that may be influencing the results.