Quantitative differences in host cell reactivation of ultraviolet-damaged virus in human skin fibroblasts and epidermal keratinocytes cultured from the same foreskin biopsy.

Repair efficiency of cultured cells may be estimated by measuring the ability of a particular cell type to support virus damaged by an appropriate agent. In this study we have compared the inactivation of ultraviolet (254 nm)-damaged herpes simplex virus in human fibroblast and epidermal keratinocyte cell lines derived from the same foreskin biopsy and found the epithelial cells to be a factor of 3 times less efficient in supporting the damaged virus. The two different cell types show comparable ultraviolet inactivation of clone-forming ability, indicating that the difference is specific to viral host cell reactivation. This study required the development of a quantitative infectious centers assay for the measurement of viral titer in human epithelial cells, a system which may be of more general application in studies of potential human carcinogens.