In this study, we investigated {gamma}H2AX{sup ser139} and 53BP1{sup ser25}, DNA damage pathway markers, to observe responses to radiation insult. Two Human Mammary Epithelial Cell (HMEC) lines were utilized to research the role of immortalization in DNA damage marker expression, HMEC HMT-3522 (S1) with an infinite lifespan, and a subtype of HMEC 184 (184V) with a finite lifespan. Cells were irradiated with 50 cGy X-rays, fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde after 1 hour repair at 37 C, and processed through immunofluorescence. Cells were visualized with a fluorescent microscope and images were digitally captured using Image-Pro Plus software. The 184V irradiated cells exhibited a more positive punctate response within the nucleus for both DNA damage markers compared to the S1 irradiated cells. We will expand the dose and time course in future studies to augment the preliminary data from this research. It is important to understand whether the process of transformation to immortalization compromises the DNA damage sensor and repair process proteins of HMECs in order to understand what is 'normal' and to evaluate the usefulness of cell lines as experimental models
