Differential effects of oltipraz on CYP1A and CYP2B in rat lung.

Oltipraz (OPZ) is a potent chemopreventive agent against chemically-induced carcinogenesis in several animal models. It affects the expression and/or activity of xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes and its effects are altered in the course of inflammation in liver. The present study was undertaken to analyse the effect of OPZ alone or in combination with Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on the expression and activities of glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) and cytochrome P450 (CYPs) in rat lung and kidney. Male Wistar rats were fed a diet containing OPZ for 1-5 days. LPS was injected 24 h before the end of OPZ treatment (from 48 to 72 h). Total GST activity, measured using 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene as a substrate, increased slightly in both lung and kidney during OPZ treatment. As previously demonstrated in the liver, OPZ induced rat GSTP1 in both kidney and lung and this effect was totally (kidney) or partially (lung) inhibited by co-treatment with LPS. CYP1A expression and activity were strongly increased in both tissues 24 h after starting OPZ treatment and maintained for 5 days. This increase was suppressed during the acute-phase response to endotoxin. OPZ has no effect on CYP2B1 mRNA expression in the lung, but it dramatically decreased the amount and activity of the corresponding apoprotein. The OPZ-dependent decrease in the CYP2B1 apoprotein was abolished and its corresponding activity partially reversed during LPS treatment. In reconstitution experiments using cytosol from OPZ-treated or control rat lungs and microsomal fractions, CYP2B1 apoprotein was rapidly degraded in the presence of cytosol from treated rats. This effect was partially reversed in the presence of MG132, a proteasome inhibitor. These observations support the conclusion that the decrease of CYP2B1 by OPZ involves proteasome-dependent degradation and represents a new mechanism of regulation by this compound.

Differential sensitivities of MRP1-overexpressing lung tumor cells to cytotoxic metals.

The human multidrug-resistance protein (MRP1), known to mediate cellular efflux of a wide range of xenobiotics, including anticancer drugs, has also been shown to transport antimony, thereby conferring resistance to this heavy metal. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether other cytotoxic metals could be handled by MRPI using MRP1-overexpressing lung tumor GLC4/Sb30 cells. Such cells were found to be 3.4-, 12.7- and 16.3-fold more resistant than parental GLC4 cells to mercuric ion, arsenite and arsenate, respectively, whereas they remained sensitive to other cytotoxic metals tested such as copper, chromium, cobalt or aluminium. MK571, a potent inhibitor of MRP1 activity, almost totally reversed resistance of GLC4/Sb30 cells to mercuric ions and arsenic while it did not significantly alter sensitivity of GLC4 cells to metals. Arsenate-treated GLC4/Sb30 cells were found to poorly accumulate arsenic through increased MK571-inhibitable efflux of the metal. Arsenate, however, failed to alter MRP1-mediated transport of known MRP1 substrates such as calcein and vincristine. In conclusion, these findings demonstrated that MRP1 likely handled some, but not all, cytotoxic metals such as arsenic and mercuric ions in addition to antimony, therefore resulting in reduced toxicity of these compounds towards MRP1-overexpressing cells.