Phenotypic heterogeneity in nucleotide excision repair mutants of rodent complementation groups 1 and 4.

Rodent ultraviolet light (UV)-sensitive mutant cells in complementation groups (CGs) 1 and 4 normally are known for their extraordinary (approximately 80-100 x) sensitivity to mitomycin C (MMC), although some CG1 mutants with reduced MMC sensitivity were previously reported (Stefanini et al. (1987) Cytotechnology 1, 91). We report here new CG1 and CG4 mutants with only 1.6-10 x wild-type MMC sensitivity despite low unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS) levels. Mutant UV140, in UV CG4, has approximately 3.8 x the UV sensitivity of parental line AA8, approximately 1.6 x wild-type MMC sensitivity, wild-type X-ray and ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) sensitivity, and is only slightly (approximately 1.4 x) hypermutable to 8-azaadenine resistance by UV light. It has moderately decreased incision of UV-damaged DNA, has moderately decreased removal of (6-4) photoproducts, and is profoundly deficient in UDS after UV. After UV, it shows abnormally decreased DNA synthesis and persistently decreased RNA synthesis. In addition a cell-free extract of this mutant displays strongly reduced nucleotide excision repair synthesis using DNA treated with N-acetoxy-acetyl-amino-fluorene (AAF). The extract selectively fails to complement extracts of group 1 and 4 mutants consistent with the notion that the affected proteins, ERCC1 and ERCC4, are part of the same complex and that mutations in one subunit also affect the other component. Mutant UV212 is a CG1 mutant with approximately 3.3 x wild-type UV and approximately 5-10 x wild-type MMC sensitivity, with profoundly deficient UDS and hypermutability (approximately 5.8 x) by UV. Mutant UV201, probably in CG1, is only slightly (approximately 1.5 x) UV-sensitive and has near wild-type (1.02X) UV mutability. These unusual group 1 and 4 mutants demonstrate that the unique UV and MMC sensitivity phenotypes displayed by these groups can be separated and support the idea that they are the result of distinct repair functions of the corresponding ERCC1 and ERCC4 genes: nucleotide excision repair for UV lesions and a separate repair pathway for removal of interstrand crosslinks.

Mutagenic synergy between paraoxon and plant-activated m-phenylenediamine or 2-acetoxyacetylaminofluorene.

Paraoxon (diethyl-p-nitrophenylphosphate) is the toxic, but non-mutagenic metabolite of the organophosphorus ester insecticide parathion. Although this agent has been used as a deacetylase inhibitor in many studies, we discovered a mutagenic synergy when paraoxon was incubated with plant-activated m-phenylenediamine (mPDA) or with direct-acting 2-acetoxyacetylaminofluorene (2AAAF) and S. typhimurium tester strains. Using non-toxic concentrations of plant-activated mPDA and paraoxon a 10-fold increase in the mutant yield of S. typhimurium was observed. The mutagenicity of the plant-activated mPDA product required that O-acetyltransferase (OAT) be expressed by the S. typhimurium tester strain. However, the paraoxon-dependent mutagenic synergy was observed using the direct-acting arylamine metabolite, 2AAAF, with strains YG1024, TA98 and TA98/1,8-DNP6 regardless of their OAT activity. This mutagenic synergy is dependent upon the presence of an activated acetylated form of the arylamine. The data presented here demonstrate that this mutagenic synergy is limited to paraoxon and not to the parent compound (parathion) or to a major metabolite of parathion (p-nitrophenol).

Mutagenicity of some N- and O-acyl derivatives of N-hydroxy-2-aminofluorene in V79 Chinese hamster cells.

Mutagenicity of 4 N- and O-acyl derivatives of N-hydroxy-2-aminofluorene (acyl: acetyl or myristoyl residue) was examined in V79 Chinese hamster cells in the absence of a metabolic activation system. N-Myristoyloxy-N-acetyl-2-aminofluorene (N-MyO-AAF) was toxic and weakly mutagenic, inducing 8-azaguanine-resistant (AZAr) mutants in V79 Chinese hamster cells in a concentration-dependent fashion; while N-acetoxy-N-myristoyl-2-aminofluorene (N-AcO-MyAF) and N-myristoyloxy-N-myristoyl-2-aminofluorene (N-MyO-MyAF) were neither cytotoxic nor mutagenic. Under the same conditions, N-acetoxy-N-acetyl-2-aminofluorene (N-AcO-AAF) was highly toxic and mutagenic. Neither of the 2 N-myristoyloxy derivatives was mutagenic in Salmonella typhimurium. These esters have been reported to produce local tumours at the site of their injection in rats, bo be electrophilic towards methionine, and to induce unscheduled DNA synthesis in cultured human fibroblasts. In view of the fact that some of the esters were mutagenic in neither S. typhimurium nor V79 Chinese hamster cells, our findings emphasize the need for multiple short-term tests in predicting potential carcinogenic activity of chemicals.

The effect of hyperthermia on DNA repair.

In the past there were many individual observations on the value of hyperthermia in the treatment of human neoplasia but most of the information about the value of hyperthermia as a single agent or in the combined modality approach has come from laboratory investigations. Dose response curves for cell survival after exposure to heat are similar in shape to cell survival curves obtained after irradiation or treatment with some cytostatic agents. The shoulder in such curves suggests that repair of sublethal or potentially lethal damage takes place after hyperthermic treatment. On the level of molecular biology the process of cellular repair should correspond to repair of damage inflicted on deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). We have shown by means of the BUdR assay that such DNA-repair synthesis does take place upon exposure to heat. Many investigations have provided evidence of a synergism between hyperthermia and ionizing irradiation or some cytostatic agents. It was suggested that such synergism might be caused by the inhibition of repair of sublethal damage by heat. After inflicting DNA damage by a strong alkylating agent (NA-AAF) we could demonstrate DNA-repair synthesis by means of the BUdR-assay during exposure to heat. At the present time results obtained by assaying DNA repair on the basis of cell survival and by means of the BUdR-assay are difficult to reconcile.

The effects of several croton oil constituents on two types of DNA repair and cyclic nucleotide levels in mammalian cells in vitro.

The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of two potent tumor-promoting agents on two DNA repair mechanisms and cyclic nucleotide levels in mammalian cells. Human amnion (AV3) cells were treated with low dose levels of either UV of N-acetoxy-acetylaminofluorene. Subsequently, DNA excision repair as measured by unscheduled DNA synthesis was followed in the absence or presence of non-toxic levels of either 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA), phorbol-12,13-dibenzoate (PDB), both potent tumor promoters, or phorbol, a non-promoter. Neither of these compounds inhibited DNA repair synthesis occurring in response to low doses of the carcinogenic agents. In addition, TPA did not inhibit "post-replication repair" in response to UV irradiation of growing Chinese hamster (V79-4) cells. However, both TPA and PDB did cause rapid dramatic increases in cyclic guanosine monophosphate levels in human amnion cells; phorbol had no effect. Neither of these compounds affected cyclic adenosine monophosphate levels. These results are discussed in the light of a possible mechanism of the action of tumor promoters involving "post-replication repair".

Nonspecific inhibition of DNA repair synthesis by tumor promoters in human diploid fibroblasts damaged with N-acetoxy-2-acetylaminofluorene.

The effects of selected tumor-promoting agents and their nonpromoting analogs on DNA repair synthesis were examined in human diploid fibroblasts (WI-38) damaged with N-acetoxy-2-acetylaminofluorene. Over a range of doses, three promoters (croton oil, 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate, and anthralin) were found to inhibit DNA repair synthesis while their nonpromoting analogs (phorbol and 1,8-dihydroxyanthraquinone) had little effect. Another tumor promoter, phenol, inhibited DNA repair synthesis only at very high concentrations while an analog, 4-nitrophenol, produced inhibition of DNA repair synthesis at molar concentrations at which phenol had no effect. To investigate the specificity of this phenomenon, the effects of these agents on DNA-replicative synthesis, RNA synthesis, protein synthesis, and cell morphology were evaluated. At equimolar concentrations, tumor promoters were found to inhibit DNA-replicative synthesis as effectively as repair synthesis. RNA and protein synthesis were similarly inhibited over the same range of concentrations. Extensive morphological changes, interpreted as evidence of toxicity, were seen at concentrations of promoters that inhibited the macromolecular syntheses studied. The nonpromoting analogs, with the exception of nitrophenol, had little effect on these processes and showed only slight morphological damage. Thus tumor-promoting agents appeared to inhibit a number of macromolecular synthetic events, including DNA repair synthesis. It is suggested that the effect of tumor promoters on DNA repair synthesis is part of a general response to cellular injury rather than a selective response involving a single metabolic pathway. Furthermore, it is unlikely that the inhibition of repair synthesis represents the major mode of action of promoting agents in the carcinogenic process.