DMBA-induced toxic and mutagenic responses vary dramatically between NER-deficient Xpa, Xpc and Csb mice.

Heterogeneity in cancer susceptibility exists between patients with an inherited defect in nucleotide excision repair (NER). While xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) patients have elevated skin cancer rates, Cockayne syndrome (CS) patients do not appear to have increased cancer susceptibility. To investigate whether differences in mutagenesis are the basis for the variability in cancer proneness, we studied mutagenesis at the X-chromosomal Hprt gene and the autosomal Aprt gene in splenic T-lymphocytes after 7,12-dimethyl-1,2-benz[a]anthracene (DMBA) exposure in total NER-deficient Xpa mice, global genome repair (GGR)-deficient Xpc mice and transcription coupled repair (TCR)-deficient Csb mice. Surprisingly, while all intraperitoneally-treated Xpc(-/-) mice survived a dose of 40 mg/kg DMBA, a substantial fraction of the treated Xpa(-/-) and Csb(-/-) mice died a few days after treatment with a 20-fold lower dose. Functional TCR of DMBA adducts in Xpc(-/-) mice thus appears to alleviate DMBA toxicity. However, the mutagenic response in Xpc(-/-) mice was +/- 2-fold enhanced at both the Hprt and the Aprt gene compared to heterozygous controls, indicating that GGR at least partially removes DMBA adducts from the genome overall. DMBA-induced SCE frequencies in mouse dermal fibroblasts were significantly enhanced in Xpa- and Csb-, but not in Xpc-deficient background compared to the frequency in normal fibroblasts. These results indicate that both damage-induced cytotoxicity as well as intra-chromosomal recombinational events were not correlated to differences in cancer susceptibility in human NER syndrome patients.

Loss of heterozygosity in somatic cells of the mouse. An important step in cancer initiation?

Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of tumour suppressor genes is a crucial step in the development of sporadic and hereditary cancer. Recently, we and others have developed mouse models in which the frequency and nature of LOH events at an autosomal locus can be elucidated in genetically stable normal somatic cells. In this paper, an overview is presented of recent studies in LOH-detecting mouse models. Molecular mechanisms that lead to LOH and the effects of genetic and environmental variables are discussed. The general finding that LOH of a marker gene occurs frequently in somatic cells of the mouse without deleterious effects on cell viability, suggests that also tumour suppressor genes are lost in similar frequencies. LOH of tumour suppressor genes may thus be an initiating event in cancer development.

The relationship between benzo[a]pyrene-induced mutagenesis and carcinogenesis in repair-deficient Cockayne syndrome group B mice.

Cockayne syndrome (CS) patients are deficient in the transcription coupled repair (TCR) subpathway of nucleotide excision repair (NER) but in contrast to xeroderma pigmentosum patients, who have a defect in the global genome repair subpathway of NER, CS patients do not have an elevated cancer incidence. To determine to what extent a TCR deficiency affects carcinogen-induced mutagenesis and carcinogenesis, CS group B correcting gene (CSB)-deficient mice were treated with the genotoxic carcinogen benzo(a)pyrene (B[a]P) at an oral dose of 13 mg/kg body weight, three times a week. At different time points, mutant frequencies at the inactive lacZ gene (in spleen, liver, and lung) as well as at the active hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase (Hprt) gene (in spleen) were determined to compare mutagenesis at inactive versus active genes. B[a]P treatment gave rise to increased mutant frequencies at lacZ in all of the organs tested without a significant difference between CSB-/- and wild-type mice, whereas B[a]P-induced Hprt mutant frequencies in splenic T-lymphocytes were significantly more enhanced in CSB-/- mice than in control mice. The sequence data obtained from Hprt mutants indicate that B[a]P adducts at guanine residues were preferentially removed from the transcribed strand of the Hprt gene in control mice but not in CSB-/- mice. On oral treatment with B[a]P, the tumor incidence increased in both wild-type and CSB-deficient animals. However, no differences in tumor rate were observed between TCR-deficient CSB-/- mice and wild-type mice, which is in line with the normal cancer susceptibility of CS patients. The mutagenic response at lacZ, in contrast to Hprt, correlated well with the cancer incidence in CSB-/- mice after B[a]P treatment, which suggests that mutations in the bulk of the DNA (inactive genes) are a better predictive marker for carcinogen-induced tumorigenesis than mutations in genes that are actively transcribed. Thus, the global genome repair pathway of NER appears to play an important role in the prevention of cancer.

Age-dependent spontaneous mutagenesis in Xpc mice defective in nucleotide excision repair.

DNA damages caused by cellular metabolites and environmental agents induce mutations, that may predispose to cancer. Nucleotide excision repair (NER) is a major cellular defence mechanism acting on a variety of DNA lesions. Here, we show that spontaneous mutant frequencies at the Hprt gene increased 30-fold in T-lymphocytes of 1 year old Xpc-/- mice, possessing only functional transcription-coupled repair (TCR). Hprt mutant frequencies in Xpa-/- and Csb-/- mice that both have a defect in this NER subpathway, remained low during ageing. In contrast to current models, the elevated mutation rate in Xpc-/- mice does not lead to an increased tumour incidence or premature ageing. Oncogene (2000) 19, 5034 - 5037

Carcinogen-induced loss of heterozygosity at the Aprt locus in somatic cells of the mouse.

Genetic events leading to the loss of heterozygosity (LOH) have been shown to play a crucial role in the development of cancer. However, LOH events do not occur only in genetically unstable cancer cells but also have been detected in normal somatic cells of mouse and man. Mice, in which one of the alleles for adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (Aprt) has been disrupted by gene targeting, were used to investigate the potency of carcinogens to induce LOH in vivo. After 7,12-dimethyl-1,2-benz[a]anthracene (DMBA) exposure, a 3-fold stronger mutagenic response was detected at the autosomal Aprt gene than at the X chromosomal hypoxantine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (Hprt) gene in splenic T-lymphocytes. Allele-specific PCR analysis showed that the normal, nontargeted Aprt allele was lost in 70% of the DMBA-induced Aprt mutants. Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis demonstrated that the targeted allele had become duplicated in almost all DMBA-induced mutants that displayed LOH at Aprt. These results indicate that the main mechanisms by which DMBA caused LOH were mitotic recombination or chromosome loss and duplication but not deletion. However, after treatment with the alkylating agent N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea, Aprt had a similar mutagenic response to Hprt while the majority (90%) of N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea-induced Aprt mutants had retained both alleles. Unexpectedly, irradiation with x-rays, which induce primarily large deletions, resulted in a significant increase of the mutant frequency at Hprt but not at Aprt. This in vivo study clearly indicates that, in normal somatic cells, carcinogen exposure can result in the induction of LOH events that are compatible with cell survival and may represent an initiating event in tumorigenesis.

Determination of spontaneous loss of heterozygosity mutations in Aprt heterozygous mice.

A mouse model was generated to investigate loss of heterozygosity (LOH) events in somatic cells. The adenine phosphoribosyltransferase ( Aprt ) gene was disrupted in embryonic stem cells using a conventional gene targeting approach and subsequently Aprt hetero-zygous and homozygous mice were derived. Aprt homozygous deficient animals were viable though the mendelian inheritance pattern was skewed. On average these mice died at 6 months of age from severe renal failure. In T-lymphocytes of Aprt heterozygous mice the mean spontaneous mutant frequency at the Aprt locus was 8.7 x 10(-6) while the frequency was 0.8 x 10(-6) at the hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase locus. In order to determine whether LOH events contribute to the high spontaneous mutant frequency at the Aprt locus, 140 Aprt mutant T-lymphocyte clones were expanded and analysed by allele-specific PCR. In 97 (69%) of these clones the wild-type allele had been lost. Nine of the mutant clones were characterized in more detail using dual-coloured fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis. Five out of six of the mutant clones which arose from an LOH event, based on the PCR assay, contained a duplication of the targeted allele. Therefore, mitotic recombination or chromosome loss followed by duplication of the remaining homologue appears to be the predominant mechanism for the in vivo generation of Aprt mutant T-lymphocytes.

Mutagenic activity in groundwater in relation to mobilization of organic mutagens in soil.

In this study, the presence of mutagenic activity (Ames Salmonella-microsome assay) in different types of uncontaminated Dutch soils is demonstrated. The mutagenic activity can be mobilized by eluting the soils with organic solvents. The highest mutagenic activity was obtained using dimethylsulfoxide. It is also shown that the organic mutagens can be mobilized by percolating the soils with rain water, although this phenomenon is not always observed. Finally, the results of this study suggest that the organic mutagens found in groundwater may, at least in part, arise from mobilization of organic mutagens in soil by rain water.

Mutagenic activity in drinking water prepared from groundwater: a survey of ten cities in The Netherlands.

A survey of the mutagenic activity (Ames Salmonella/microsome assay) in drinking water prepared from groundwater in 10 cities of The Netherlands is presented. Mutagenic activity with strain TA98 with S-9 mix was found in the drinking water of six cities. There are strong indications that this mutagenic activity is caused by organics of natural origin. In the drinking water of three cities, trichloroethane, trichloroethene and tetrachloroethene were detected, which indicates that in these water-catchment areas organic pollutants have reached groundwater.

Evaluation of different treatment processes with respect to mutagenic activity in drinking water.

Treatment processes which are applied in The Netherlands during the preparation of drinking water have been evaluated with regard to introduction and removal of organic mutagens as well as halogenated organics. It appeared that the most efficient processes in reducing mutagenic activity were activated carbon filtration and artificial dune recharge. In general these processes were also the most efficient in removing halogenated organics. Using low doses of chlorine dioxide (less than 1 mg C1O2/l) for safety disinfection of drinking water, no change or substantial less mutagenic activity than by chlorination (1 mg Cl/l) was found. This counts too for the formation of halogenated organics. Transport chlorination of stored river Meuse water was able to introduce or activate mutagenic nitro organics which have not been found previously. Ozone treatment under field conditions showed mostly a tendency to decrease the activity of organic mutagens. It was also shown that dependent on the water quality and treatment conditions a slight increase of mutagenic activity occurred, but this activity would be reduced by increasing the ozone dose. It seems possible to optimize the ozone treatment conditions regarding the level of ozone dose and the contact time to avoid an increase of mutagenic activity. Furthermore it was shown that when a mutagenic raw water source was used a proper combination of treatment processes is able to produce drinking water in which no mutagenic activity could be detected under the test conditions. Finally it is stated that before far-reaching decisions with respect to use mutagenicity data for a selection of water sources or treatment processes will be made, more information on the relation mutagenic activity from drinking water and effects on human health should become available.

Toxicity, biodegradability, and accumulation of a number of Cl/N-containing compounds for classification and establishing water quality criteria.

The evaluation of the ecotoxicity of chemical compounds is often hampered by the scarcity of the literature data on toxicity, biodegradability, and accumulation. In this study additional data on 16 Cl/N-containing organic compounds were gathered by laboratory experiments. For assignment to so-called gray or black lists, two different classification schemes were used. According to both schemes 3-nitrotoluene, 1,2- and 1,3-dichlorobenzene, the 1-chloro-nitrobenzenes, 2,3-dichloronitrobenzene, 2-chloroaniline, and 2-chloro-4-nitroaniline were marked as black list substances, primarily based on poor biodegradability; 2- and 4-nitrotoluene, nitrobenzene, and 2-methoxyaniline were classified as gray list substances. For 3- and 4-methoxyaniline and 1,4-dichlorobenzene no agreement in classification was obtained. Additionally, water quality criteria are proposed for 2-, 3-, and 4-nitrotoluene and nitrobenzene, based on long-term toxicity data: respectively 0.3, 0.2, 0.4, and 1.0 mg/liter.

A carcinogenicity study with mutagenic organic concentrates of drinking-water in the Netherlands.

The carcinogenicity in male and female Wistar SSP TOX rats of organic drinking-water concentrates that are positive in the Ames test was studied at three doses. The organic mutagenic concentrates were prepared weekly from drinking-water from one location in The Netherlands by adsorption onto XAD-4/8 resins and elution with dimethylsulphoxide. The organic concentrates in dimethylsulphoxide were mixed with non-mutagenic drinking-water before exposure of the rats. Dose levels were based on multiples of expected human exposure levels. For the calculation the average human daily intake of drinking-water was taken as 2 litres for a body weight of 70 kg. There was no significant increase in tumour induction when male Wistar SSP TOX rats were exposed for 106 wk to 4.5, 14 or 40 times the expected human exposure level and females to 7,22 or 68 times the human level. The development and types of tumours were similar in the treated and control groups. The numbers of animals with tumours and of animals that died as a result of tumours in the exposed groups did not differ significantly from those in the control groups. These results suggest that these organic mutagenic drinking-water concentrates did not contain very potent carcinogens in effective concentrations.

Mutagenic activity associated with by-products of drinking water disinfection by chlorine, chlorine dioxide, ozone and UV-irradiation.

A retrospective epidemiological study in The Netherlands showed a statistical association between chlorination by-products in drinking water and cancer of the esophagus and stomach for males. A pilot-plant study with alternative disinfectants was carried out with stored water of the Rivers Rhine and Meuse. It was demonstrated that the increase of direct acting mutagens after treatment with chlorine dioxide is similar to the effect of chlorination. Ozonation of Rhine water reduced the mutagenic activity for Salmonella typhimurium TA 98 both with and without metabolic activation. UV alone hardly affects the mutagenicity of the stored river water for S. typh. TA 98. In all studies, practically no mutagenic activity for S. typh. TA 100 was found. Although remarkable changes in the concentration of individual organic compounds are reported, the identity of the mutagens detected is yet unclear. Compounds of possible interest due to their removal by ozonation are 1,3,3-trimethyloxindole, dicyclopentadiene and several alkylquinolines. Compounds which might be responsible for the increased mutagenicity after chlorination are two brominated acetonitriles and tri(2-chlorethyl) phosphate. Furthermore, the concentration procedure with adsorption on XAD resin and the subsequent elution step may have affected the results. It is proposed to focus further research more on the less volatile by-products of disinfection than on the trihalomethanes.

Presence, introduction and removal of mutagenic activity during the preparation of drinking water in the Netherlands.

A survey of the presence of mutagenic activity in drinking water of 18 cities in the Netherlands revealed that in drinking water of 13 cities mutagenic activity could be demonstrated. The activity was detected in the Ames test after concentrating the organic mutagens with a XAD-4/8 procedure. Dose-related responses were observed with concentrates corresponding to 0.5 to 3.0 liters of drinking water. A study of the changes in mutagenic activity during the preparation of drinking water in a few waterworks showed that breakpoint chlorination, transport chlorination and post chlorination increased the mutagenic activity, while ozonation only reduced the activity with metabolic activation. When adsorption on activated carbon powder was used, a certain reduction of mutagenic activity was observed. The use of activated carbon filters, however, removed the activity completely. The majority of organic mutagens present in drinking water concentrates were shown to be nonvolatile and relatively stable and probably consist of compounds with a molecular weight in the order of 200. These mutagens are not identical to the organics identified up till now in drinking water by standard gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis. Finally, a group of organic mutagens, which adsorbs only at pH 2-3 on XAD-4/8 (acid fraction), could be demonstrated in Ames-positive drinking waters.

Toxicity assessment of organic compounds in drinking water in the Netherlands.

In a recent survey of organic compounds present in drinking water of twenty cities in The Netherlands, it was found that only a minor fraction (10%) of the total organic content could be identified. It appeared that drinking water prepared from polluted surface water contains more organic compounds with carcinogenic and mutagenic properties than water prepared from groundwater. The concentration of most of the organic constituents identified was generally below the microgram/litre level. It is not expected that circumstances will occur, that these compounds will be present in quantities, which are acutely toxic for consumers. On the other hand it cannot be excluded that certain organic compounds, in particular carcinogens and mutagens, may cause chronic toxic effects as a result of life time consumption of such contaminated drinking water. Therefore an epidemiological study was started in The Netherlands in which cancer mortality was related to the raw water source used for drinking water and the level of organic constituents. Preliminary results of the epidemiological study are presented. Furthermore a limited survey was carried out whereby drinking water of six cities was investigated for the presence of organic genotoxic compounds. The results of this survey led to the decision to extend this investigation to 19 cities. Finally, preliminary results regarding the characterization of the organic genotoxic compounds, present in drinking water, will be discussed.