Lack of response to multiple genotoxic agents at the hprt locus in peripheral blood T-lymphocytes of cynomolgus monkeys.

We tested the ability of a series of known genotoxic agents to cause mutations at the hprt locus in peripheral blood T-lymphocytes of cynomolgus monkeys as measured by the ability to form clones in the presence of 6-thioguanine. Ethylmethane sulfonate (EMS, 300 mg/kg i.p.), chloroethylmethane sulfonate (CI-EMS, 35 or 50 mg/kg i.p.), and the Pharmacia & Upjohn antitumor agents adozelesin (1.6, 4, 6, or 8 microg/kg i.v.) and CC-1065 (6 microg/kg i.v.) were all negative in the hprt mutation test. Results with cyclophosphamide (CP, 75 mg/kg i.v.) were equivocal. Adozelesin, CC-1065, and CI-EMS treatments increased the percentage of T-lymphocytes with chromosome aberrations, as well as inducing types of aberrations not seen in control cells. EMS and CP were not tested for chromosome aberrations. We have previously shown that treatment of monkeys with 77 mg/kg ENU substantially increased the hprt mutant frequency, with a lag time of approximately 77 days between treatment and peak MF values. The results of the present study suggest a low sensitivity of the hprt mutation assay to certain classes of genotoxic agents in cynomolgus monkeys.

DNA sequence analysis of hprt mutants persisting in peripheral blood of cynomolgus monkeys more than two years after ENU treatment.

We have been studying in vivo mutagenesis at the hypoxanthine phosphoribosyl transferase (hprt) locus in cynomolgus monkey T-lymphocytes. This primate model allows us to study mutations and their kinetics under well-controlled conditions. Previously, we reported mutations detected at various times after intraperitoneal treatment with ethylnitrosourea (ENU, 77 mg/kg). At 832 days after that first treatment, the monkey received a second dose of 77 mg/kg ENU. Up to 1,331 days after the second treatment, the T-cell mutant frequency (44.2 x 10(-6)) was still 26-fold higher than background (1.7 x 10(-6)), suggesting that mutants persisted in the peripheral blood. Mutant clones from Days 974, 1,164, and 1,311 after the second treatment were selected in thioguanine. Hprt cDNA was prepared from a cell lysate, PCR-amplified, and sequenced. Of 45 mutants, 30 yielded PCR product and 26 were sequenced. Base substitutions were found in 21 (81%) of the 26 mutants and consisted of one G:C --> A:T and five A:T --> G:C transitions, one G:C --> C:G, eight A:T --> T:A, and six A:T --> C:G transversions. Therefore, most base substitutions occurred at A:T basepairs, characteristic of ENU-induced mutations in vivo, and were detected up to 3.6 years after the second treatment. Deletions of exons 2 and 3 occurred in two mutants and exon 7 was deleted in one mutant. There were two insertion mutants: one was a single base insertion and the other contained an insertion of 277 basepairs which was nearly identical to a simian retroviral sequence.

Southern blot analysis of T-cell receptor gene rearrangements in cynomolgus monkeys, and identification of a progenitor cell HPRT mutation.

Increases in peripheral blood T-lymphocyte HPRT mutant frequency may reflect either a number of independent HPRT gene mutational events or clonal proliferation of a single HPRT mutant. Sequence analysis of HPRT mutations in conjunction with T-cell receptor (TCR) gene rearrangement pattern analysis can distinguish these possibilities. Our laboratory previously characterized a nonhuman primate model for in vivo mutation studies using the clonal HPRT mutation assay. In the present study we report the use of probes for human TCR beta and gamma genes to characterize TCR rearrangements in cynomolgus monkeys. Together, these methods were used to examine a monkey which exhibited a mean spontaneous HPRT mutant frequency (MF) of 16.4 x 10(-6), compared to the normal mean MF of 3.03 x 10(-6). The elevated MF resulted from the occurrence of a single HPRT mutation in a lymphocyte progenitor cell or stem cell, since T-cell clones isolated from the monkey exhibited a G to T transversion at base pair 539 in the HPRT coding region, and had unique rearrangements of TCR gamma along with an apparent germline TCR beta configuration. In a preliminary in vivo mutation study, the animal was treated with the investigational potent mutagen and antitumor agent adozelesin (U-73975). No increase in HPRT mutant frequency was observed. The HPRT mutant clones isolated after treatment showed rearrangement of both TCR gamma and beta genes. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed.

DNA sequence analysis of spontaneous hprt mutations arising in vivo in cynomolgus monkey T-lymphocytes.

To study the mechanisms of mutagenesis in vivo, we analyzed mutations at the hypoxanthine phosphoribosyl transferase (hprt) locus using cDNA from cynomolgus monkey T-lymphocytes. In the present study, the spectrum of spontaneous hprt mutations arising in vivo in wild-caught cynomolgus monkey peripheral T-lymphocytes is described. Cells were isolated from peripheral blood, and mutant clones were selected in 6-thioguanine, propagated, and stored frozen. cDNA was copied from hprt mRNA from a lysate of 7,000 to 20,000 cells. A 780-base-pairs (bp) region including the coding region was amplified by polymerase chain reaction and directly sequenced. We sequenced 40 spontaneous mutants from 11 monkeys. Of these 40 clones, 23 (57%) had base-pair substitutions, 11 (28%) had small (< 20 bp) deletions and/or insertions, and 6 (15%) had large (> 20 bp) deletions and/or insertions. Of the 23 base substitutions, 13 were transitions (11 G:C-->A:T, 1 A:T-->G:C, and 1 tandem TT-->CC) and 10 were transversions (3 G:C-->T:A, 3 G:C-->C:G, 2 A:T-->T:A, 2 A:T-->C:G). Bases 209 and 617 were apparent substitution hotspots, which have also been observed as hotspots in human hprt. In 2 clones with large insertions, the inserted bases were of intronic origin. One of these lost 272 bp from exons 2-3 and contained a 93-bp insertion from the middle of intron 3. Two clones with small deletions and 5 clones with large deletions or insertions (7/40 or 17.5%) could be splice mutants.

The effect of cytosol on liver microsomal metabolic activation and demethylation of N-nitrosodimethylamine.

The role of rat liver cytosol in the demethylation and metabolic activation of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) was examined. Addition of cytosol to liver microsomes from pyridine-pretreated rats enhanced DNA alkylation by NDMA 10- to 14-fold over microsomes alone, while cytosol alone had little DNA alkylating activity. The cytosolic activity responsible for the enhancement of DNA alkylation was heat labile, required NADPH, and was not a general protein effect. Addition of cytosol to purified rabbit liver cytochrome P450 2E1 in a reconstituted system consisting of NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase, 2E1, and phospholipid produced an 18-fold increase in DNA alkylation over that observed with the reconstituted system alone. The cytosolic activity responsible for the enhancement of DNA alkylation did not work by inhibition of lipid peroxidation, nor did the addition of cytosol affect the level of NADPH present in the reaction mixtures. Attempts to identify the cytosolic component(s) responsible for the DNA alkylation enhancing activity demonstrated no evidence for the involvement of sulfhydryl-dependent enzymes, a flavoprotein, or conjugating enzymes. Studies with semicarbazide and phenylhydrazine suggest that carbonyl groups may be involved in the cytosolic activity. Measurements of NDMA demethylation demonstrated that cytosol addition led to a significant decrease in formaldehyde production, indicating that cytosol was not enhancing the activation of NDMA to a DNA alkylating species by facilitating the cytochrome P450-catalyzed demethylation reaction, and suggested that a cytosolic reaction might be occurring at the expense of formaldehyde formation.

Risk and benefit evaluation in development of pharmaceutical products.

Pharmaceutical products are intended to cure disease, reduce pain and suffering, prolong life, and correct metabolic deficits in patients. However, the potential patient population is intrinsically genetically heterogenous, and this factor complicates the evaluation of data on all aspects of safety evaluation of new drugs. Often the genetic heterogeneity is related to drug metabolizing capacity, but recent evidence suggests that heterogeneity in repair capacity as well as structural integrity of the chromatin (fragile X) have been shown to be relevant. Because drugs are biologically active and may have more than one type of effect, the evaluation of a large number of parameters is necessary in arriving at a rational estimate of potential risk. In this paper, several specific examples of risk assessments and some generic genotoxicity questions that are recurrent, including the question of the relevance of in vitro chromosomal aberration induction at high dose/sampling time, are raised. Other examples of the kinds of concerns from the safety evaluation of U-48753E, U-54461, and U-68,553B are discussed. The drug U-48753E was discovered to be slightly mutagenic in the AS52 assay, and significant efforts were expended in evaluation of the metabolism-based generation of a reactive intermediate. The drug U-54,461 was shown to be capable of breaking chromosomes in vitro but extensive in vivo data as well as a variety of other studies served to reduce the level of concern substantially.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Mutations induced at the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase locus of human T-lymphoblasts by perturbations of purine deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate pools.

Chronic perturbations of intracellular deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate (dNTP) pools have been associated with a mutator phenotype and increased mutation rates at several genetic loci. We have examined the specific effects of transient pharmacological purine dNTP pool perturbations on mutations induced at the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) locus in a cultured human T-lymphoblast cell line. Incubation of CEM cells with 50 microM 2'-deoxyguanosine for 6 h increased intracellular dGTP levels 43-fold and induced a 40-fold increase in mutation frequency at the HPRT locus. Six-h incubations with 5, 10, and 20 microM 2'-deoxyadenosine increased dATP pools 4.8-, 8-, and 14.5-fold, respectively, with 59-, 34-, and 43-fold increases in HPRT mutant fractions. In contrast, 24-h incubations with hydroxyurea at concentrations which inhibited cell growth to similar extents did not induce HPRT mutations. Sequencing of HPRT complementary DNA derived from mutant cell lines revealed that the mutations induced by transient purine dNTP pool perturbations exhibited no significant misincorporation of the nucleotide in excess or next-nucleotide effect, and were similar in nature and location to spontaneous HPRT mutations. We conclude that mutations caused by transient purine dNTP pool elevations in these dividing cells are most likely induced by inhibition of DNA repair processes.

Purification and biochemical characterization of hepatic arylamine N-acetyltransferase from rapid and slow acetylator mice: identity with arylhydroxamic acid N,O-acyltransferase and N-hydroxyarylamine O-acetyltransferase.

An inbred mouse model for the human N-acetylation polymorphism has been used to investigate the biochemical basis for the arylamine N-acetylation polymorphism and the relationship between the cytosolic enzymes arylamine N-acetyltransferase (NAT), arylhydroxamic acid N,O-acyltransferase, and N-hydroxyarylamine O-acetyltransferase. Biochemical studies of partially purified NAT from rapid and slow acetylator mice revealed identical molecular weights of 31,500, activation energies of 21,000 cal/mol, equivalent affinities for acetyl coenzyme A, broad pH optima, the presence of an active site sulfhydryl group, and similar behavior during purification with anion exchange, gel filtration, and hydrophobic interaction chromatography. The enzymes differed in inhibition by hydrogen peroxide and dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid). These observations taken in conjunction with previous investigations indicate that the rapid and slow mouse NAT enzymes are isozymes with minimal structural differences. NATs from rapid and slow acetylator mice were purified more than 10,000-fold by the following sequence of methods: homogenization and fractional centrifugation, protamine sulfate precipitation, and chromatography on DEAE-Trisacryl M, Sephadex G-100, Amethopterin-AH-Sepharose 4B, butyl agarose, and Sephacryl S-200, with a 15-25% recovery. NAT from B6 mice was purified to greater than 95% purity, as judged by silver staining of sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels. Although only NAT appeared to be subject to a genetic polymorphism as evidenced by N-acetylation activities in liver cytosol, the purified NAT protein possessed arylhydroxamic acid N,O-acyltransferase, N-hydroxyarylamine O-acetyltransferase, and NAT activities. Thus, the cytosolic N-acetyltransferase of mouse liver may catalyze N-, O-, and N,O-acetyltransfer reactions through a common acetylated intermediate of a single protein.

Linkage of Nat and Es-1 in the mouse and development of strains congenic for N-acetyltransferase.

The human polymorphism in the hepatic enzyme N-acetyltransferase (NAT) affects the rate at which individuals acetylate, and in many cases detoxify, aromatic amine and hydrazine drugs and xenobiotics. Differences in NAT activity are known to affect individual susceptibility to drug toxicities and are thought to play a part in some spontaneous disorders. A mouse model for the human acetylation polymorphism has been previously characterized and involves the A/J (slow acetylator) and C57BL/6J (rapid acetylator) inbred strains. Strain distribution analysis of 40 A x B and B x A recombinant inbred (RI) strains indicated linkage between the N-acetyltransferase gene (Nat) and the esterase 1 (Es-1) gene, located on mouse chromosome 8. A double backcross involving 107 animals confirmed the recombination frequency between Nat and Es-1 to be 12 +/- 3% (mean +/- SE). The information obtained in the backcross and RI studies was combined, yielding a 13 +/- 2.8% (mean +/- SD) recombination frequency. The Es-1 genotype was determined in our newly developed congenic strains A.B6-Natr and B6.A-Nats. The B6.A-Nats strain has the Es-1 genotype of its inbred partner, the B6 strain, and the A.B6-Natr strain has the Es-1 genotype of the donor strain. These congenic strains will be important in determining the role of the NAT genotype in susceptibility to arylamine-induced cancer and other disorders.

Benzidine activation in the Ames test: roles of hepatic N-acetyltransferase and other cytosolic and microsomal factors.

Benzidine (BZ) is a known animal and human carcinogen, and is mutagenic in the Ames test using strain TA 98. Several workers have shown that hepatic S9 fraction from hamster is much more effective than is rat S9, as an activation system for BZ in the Ames test. We show that rat microsomal fraction inhibits hamster S9 activation of BZ. Hamster microsomal fraction, supplemented with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PdeH), gives a BZ dose-dependent mutagenic response, in the absence of cytosolic fraction. Rat microsomal fraction, in contrast, gives relatively little activation, under comparable conditions. Activation was enhanced when hamster or rat cytosol was added back to a mixture of hamster microsomes and G6PdeH. When strain TA 98 was replaced by strain TA 98/1,8-DNP6, very little activation of BZ was observed. Partially purified mouse liver acetyltransferase effectively activated BZ to mutagenic products in the presence of acetyl coenzyme A (CoASAc)/hamster microsomes/G6PdeH. Hamster and rat liver cytosol contain a CoASAc-dependent as well as a CoASAc-independent cytosolic activating factor of BZ. Hamster but not rat microsomal activation of BZ is enhanced in the presence of CoASAc. The biochemical mechanisms of BZ activation in the Ames test are discussed in light of these results.

Kinetics of arylamine N-acetyltransferase in tissues from rapid and slow acetylator mice.

Kinetic parameters for arylamine N-acetyltransferase activity in liver, blood, and bladder from C57BL/6J and A/J mouse strains were determined using an improved assay system, and some deviations were found from previously reported results. In the present studies, blood N-acetyltransferase activity with p-aminobenzoic acid and 2-aminofluorene as substrates was 20- and 10-fold greater, respectively, in C57BL/6J than in A/J mice. Urinary bladder possessed N-acetyltransferase activity for both 2-aminofluorene and p-aminobenzoic acid which differed 2-fold, and reflected the liver and blood phenotype. An apparent Km difference for 2-aminofluorene was observed between C57BL/6J and A/J liver N-acetyltransferase. Contrary to earlier studies, the liver N-acetyltransferase activity differed 3-fold between the A/J and C57BL/6J mouse strains, with either p-aminobenzoic acid or 2-aminofluorene as substrates. Dimethylsulfoxide at concentrations used in the 2-aminofluorene acetylation assay in earlier studies, inhibited the A/J liver N-acetyltransferase to a greater extent than the C57BL/6J enzyme, which may have contributed to the larger difference in liver NAT activity with 2-aminofluorene reported previously.