Current evidence suggest an important role for increased repair of drug-induced DNA damage as one of the major mechanisms involved in tumor cell resistance to cis-DDP. In this study, we examined the DNA repair capacity and the activities of three DNA repair related proteins, namely, DNA polymerases alpha and beta, and total DNA ligase in cells of a malignant oligodendroglioma obtained from a patient before therapy and compared it with those of a specimen of the tumor acquired after the patient had failed cis-DDP therapy. DNA repair capacity was quantitated as the extent of reactivation of the chloramphenicol-O-acetyltransferase (CAT) gene in a eukaryotic expression vector that had been damaged and inactivated by prior treatment with cis-DDP and then transfected into the tumor cells. The extent of DNA-platinum adduct formation in the expression vector was determined by flameless atomic absorption spectrometry. The level of cis-DDP resistance of cells of the two tumors was determined with the capillary tumor stem cell assay. We observed a 2.8-fold increased capacity to repair Pt-DNA adducts and reactivate the CAT gene in cells of the tumor obtained after cis-DDP therapy, compared to cells of the untreated tumor. This was associated with increases of 9.4-fold and a 2.3-fold, respectively, in DNA polymerase beta and total DNA ligase activities in cells of the treated tumor. At 5 microM cis-DDP, there was a 5.9-fold increase in the in vitro cis-DDP resistance of post-therapy tumor cells relative to cells of the untreated tumor.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)