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The comet assay is a simple gel electrophoresis method for visualizing and quantifying DNA damage. The comet assay is sensitive
and reproducible and can be used to detect single-strand DNA breaks, double-strand DNA breaks, protein-associated DNA strand
breaks and DNA crosslinks. The comet assay uses fluorescent DNA-binding dyes to detect both damaged DNA that resides in the
tail region and undamaged DNA that is retained in the head region following gel electrophoresis. This assay is a single cell-based
assay and thus is highly adaptable for measuring DNA damage in clinical samples. Furthermore, unlike other assays the detection
of DNA damage is not dependent on the random incorporation of radiolabeled nucleotides. Again this can be problematic with
clinical samples as proliferation rates are often slow and culturing of primary patient specimens for 48 h required to randomly
label DNA is often not possible. In this chapter we will outline the comet assay for the detection of DNA damage induced by
topoisomerase II inhibitors, cross-linking agents and gamma radiation.
Affiliation(s): (1) Department of Interdisciplinary Oncology, Experimental Therapeutics and Drug Discovery Programs, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA
Book Title: Chromatin Protocols: Second Edition
Series: Methods in Molecular Biology | Volume: 523 | Pub. Date: Dec-01-2008 | Page Range: 169-176 | DOI: 10.1007/978-1-59745-190-1_12
Subject: Cell Biology
Key Words: Comet assay - filter elution assay - topoisomerase II poison - DNA crosslinks - DNA repair
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