Chinese Hamster Cell Line Research Articles

Sugar Transport Regulation: Comparative Characterization of the Effect of NADH CoQ Reductase Deficiency in Two Cell Culture Systems

Abstract. In this report, we have characterized the upregulation of glucose transport in two different respiration-deficient fibroblast cell cultures. We have demonstrated that glucose transport increases in respiration-deficient cells as measured by 2 deoxy D-glucose transport and is readily observed in both the WG750 human and G14 Chinese hamster fibroblast respiration-deficient cell lines when compared with the MCH55 normal human and V79 parental Chinese hamster cell lines, respectively. Using subcellular fractionation techniques, the GLUT 1 glucose transporter was found located predominantly in the plasma membrane–enriched fraction of the human and hamster cell lines. In human cells, the expression of the GLUT 1 glucose transporter was elevated three-fold in the plasma membrane–enriched fraction of the WG750 respiration-deficient mutant cells. In the Chinese hamster cell lines, the respiration-deficient G14 cells exhibited no such GLUT 1 glucose transporter elevation in the plasma membrane–enriched fraction, yet expressed a >2-fold increase in glucose transport. Furthermore, the G14 cells had a similar content of GLUT 1 glucose transporter in the plasma membrane fraction when compared with the V79 parental cell line. Using Western blot analysis, the GLUT 1 glucose transporter in G14 cells exhibited a different mobility on a polyacrylamide gel when compared with the mobility of the GLUT 1 glucose transporter of the V79 cell line. This differential mobility of the glucose transporters in the hamster cells appeared to be related to glycosylation differences of the glucose transporters. Although normal human and hamster cell lines exhibited significant increases in insulin-stimulated sugar transport (P < 0.05), the two respective respiration-deficient cell lines exhibited no significant increases in insulin-stimulated sugar transport (P > 0.05). Additionally, the expression of the GLUT 1 mRNA in the human WG750 mutant cells was elevated when compared with GLUT 1 mRNA in normal cells. Insulin exposure significantly increased GLUT 1 mRNA in human cells (P < 0.05). No differences in the GLUT 1 mRNA were observed between both hamster cell lines. Thus, both respiration-deficient cell lines are insulin resistant (i.e., regarding their insulin-stimulated sugar transport). The respiration-deficient mutation results in an increased sugar transport in the human and hamster cells; however, the human cells adapt to the mutation by increasing their levels of GLUT 1 mRNA and eventually membrane-located glucose transporters. On the other hand, the hamster cells adapt by apparently modifying their glucose transporters' intrinsic activity via glycosylation. We feel that these cell systems can be effective models to study the multiple factors involved in sugar transport regulation in vertebrate cells.

Low doses of alpha particles do not induce sister chromatid exchanges in bystander Chinese hamster cells defective in homologous recombination

We reported previously that the homologous recombinational repair (HRR)-deficient Chinese hamster mutant cell line irs3 (deficient in the Rad51 paralog Rad51C) showed only a 50% spontaneous frequency of sister chromatid exchange (SCE) as compared to parental wild-type V79 cells. Furthermore, when irradiated with very low doses of alpha particles, SCEs were not induced in irs3 cells, as compared to a prominent bystander effect observed in V79 cells [H. Nagasawa, Y. Peng, P.F. Wilson, Y.C. Lio, D.J. Chen, J.S. Bedford, J.B. Little, Role of homologous recombination in the alpha-particle-induced bystander effect for sister chromatid exchanges and chromosomal aberrations, Radiat. Res. 164 (2005) 141–147]. In the present study, we examined additional Chinese hamster cell lines deficient in the Rad51 paralogs Rad51C, Rad51D, Xrcc2, and Xrcc3 as well as another essential HRR protein, Brca2. Spontaneous SCE frequencies in non-irradiated wild-type cell lines CHO, AA8 and V79 were 0.33 SCE/chromosome, whereas two Rad51C-deficient cell lines showed only 0.16 SCE/chromosome. Spontaneous SCE frequencies in cell lines defective in Rad51D, Xrcc2, Xrcc3, and Brca2 ranged from 0.23 to 0.33 SCE/chromosome, 0–30% lower than wild-type cells. SCEs were induced significantly 20–50% above spontaneous levels in wild-type cells exposed to a mean dose of 1.3 mGy of alpha particles (<1% of nuclei traversed by an alpha particle). However, induction of SCEs above spontaneous levels was minimal or absent after α-particle irradiation in all of the HRR-deficient cell lines. These data suggest that Brca2 and the Rad51 paralogs contribute to DNA damage repair processes induced in bystander cells (presumably oxidative damage repair in S-phase cells) following irradiation with very low doses of alpha particles.

Characterization of cells expressing RNA polymerase II tagged with green fluorescent protein: Effect of ionizing irradiation on RNA synthesis

Purpose: To isolate and to characterize cells expressing RNA polymerase II tagged with green fluorescent protein for analyses of the effects of ionizing radiation on transcription in living cells.Materials and methods: We introduced an α-amanitin-resistant mutation into a vector encoding the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II tagged with green fluorescent protein (GFP-pol). Cell lines stably expressing functional GFP-pol were isolated under selection with α-amanitin from a Chinese hamster cell line, CHO-K1, and a radiation-sensitive mutant CHO cell line, XR-1.Results: We tested the functionality of the fusion protein in vivo by determining RNA synthesis activity by incorporation of nucleoside analogues. Both CHO-K1 and XR-1 cells expressing GFP-pol had properties similar to those of their respective parental cell lines, indicating that GFP-pol is functional.Conclusions: These stable lines might prove useful for analyses of the roles of transcription after ionizing radiation.

Characterization of the genotoxic potential of formaldehyde in V79 cells

Formaldehyde (FA) is known to be genotoxic and mutagenic in proliferating mammalian cells in vitro. The present study was performed to further characterize its genotoxic potential in the V79 Chinese hamster cell line. The induction of DNA strand breaks and DNA-protein cross-links (DPXs) was measured by the comet assay in relationship to the induction of sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) and micronuclei (MN). Induction of DNA strand breaks was found neither with the standard protocol of the alkaline comet assay nor with modifications using extended electrophoresis times or proteinase K. The concentration-effect relationship for the genotoxic effects was characterized by fitting different curves to the data. A two-phase regression model fitted best in comparison with a linear or a quadratic model and indicated practical thresholds for the induction of SCE and MN. For the induction of DPX as measured by the comet assay, neither a linear concentration-response relationship nor any of the tested models fitted well to the data. Three repeated treatments with genotoxic concentrations of FA with a 3-h interval led to enhanced levels of DPX and MN while the same treatments with a 24-h interval did not enhance FA genotoxicity but suggested adaptive protection against the DNA-damaging action of FA.

A Novel Candidate Compound with Urethane Structure for Anticancer Drug Development

Diethyl-4,4'-methylenebis(N-phenylcarbamate) (MDU) is a urethane compound that we originally synthesized, along with three other compounds, to investigate how polyurethane is hydrolysed. We tested the four compounds for cytotoxicity in two Chinese hamster cell lines (CHL and V79) and a human cancer cell line (HeLa S3). MDU showed the strongest cytotoxicity in all the cell lines with an IC50 of around 0.1 microg/ml. We further investigated MDU for its ability to induce chromosome aberrations (CAs) and micronuclei (MN) in CHL cells. MDU induced around 100% polyploid cells at 0.5 microg/ml after 24- and 48-h treatment in the CA test and a significantly increased frequency of micronuclei, polynuclear cells, and mitotic cells in the MN test, suggesting that it may induce numerical CAs. MDU's ability to cause mitotic arrest in CHL cells was greater than that of taxol and colchicine. Based on a COMPARE analysis using JFCR39, a panel of cancer cell lines, we predicted MDU to be a tubulin inhibitor. We confirmed this possibility in nerve growth factor-stimulated PC12 cells as well as in HT1080 cells, in which MDU exhibited the activity to inhibit tubulin polymerization. MDU is simpler in structure than existing anticancer drugs taxol and vincristine and can be synthesized relatively easily. Here we offer MDU as a potential new type of anticancer drug, stable even at room temperature, and inexpensive.

Chromosome aberrations in Chinese hamster and human cells: A comparison using compounds with various genotoxicity profiles

Chromosome aberrations (Cabs) can be induced in vitro by non-DNA damaging compounds, often associated with cytotoxicity and DNA synthesis inhibition, and under conditions that would not be relevant in vivo. Such misleading positive results are reported both in Chinese hamster cell lines and in human peripheral blood lymphocytes (HL). We assessed the response of HL to compounds with varied genetic toxicity profiles, all of which induced Cabs in CHO cells Seven of 10 compounds were negative or equivocal in HL. Results in purified lymphocytes for four verified that the difference was not due to the presence of blood in cultures. Two compounds that were weakly positive in the Ames test and one that induced DNA adducts were negative or equivocal in the HL assay; their overall mutagenic potential in vivo is not clear. Of four Ames-negative compounds, three of which inhibited DNA synthesis in CHO cells, three were negative and one was equivocal in the HL assay. A potent Cab inducer, which also induced micronuclei in vivo (but was negative in the Ames test) was clearly positive in the HL assay. Two compounds were clearly positive in HL only when the mitotic indices (MI) were below 50% of control. These are genotoxic in other assays but our evidence suggests that Cab induction is related more to toxicity than to primary DNA damage. For this limited set of 10 compounds, HL were more likely than CHO cells to give negative or equivocal results. It is likely that more stringent checkpoint controls in human cells prevent damaged cells reaching mitosis, and may also influence the reported greater sensitivity to induction of aneuploidy and polyploidy of normal rodent compared with human cells. In the studies reported here, two strong inducers of polyploidy in CHO cells gave weaker increases in HL. Human lymphocytes have disadvantages as a routine screening assay (finding donors, known individual variability, increased time required and the inadequacy of the MI as a toxicity measure), but may be useful in follow-up testing to assess weight of evidence about genotoxic risk to humans, for compounds that are positive in the Chinese hamster cell Cabs assays.

Genotoxic effects of exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) in cultured mammalian cells are not independently reproducible

Conflicting results have been published regarding the induction of genotoxic effects by exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF). Using the comet assay, the micronucleus test and the chromosome aberration test with human fibroblasts (ES1 cells), the EU-funded “REFLEX” project (Risk Evaluation of Potential Environmental Hazards From Low Energy Electromagnetic Field Exposure Using Sensitive in vitro Methods) reported clearly positive effects for various exposure conditions. Because of the ongoing discussion on the biological significance of the effects observed, it was the aim of the present study to independently repeat the results using the same cells, the same equipment and the same exposure conditions. We therefore exposed ES1 cells to RF-EMF (1800 MHz; SAR 2 W/kg, continuous wave with intermittent exposure) for different time periods and then performed the alkaline (pH > 13) comet assay and the micronucleus test (MNT). For both tests, clearly negative results were obtained in independently repeated experiments. We also performed these experiments with V79 cells, a sensitive Chinese hamster cell line that is frequently used in genotoxicity testing, and also did not measure any genotoxic effect in the comet assay and the MNT. Appropriate measures of quality control were considered to exclude variations in the test performance, failure of the RF-EMF exposure or an evaluation bias. The reasons for the difference between the results reported by the REFLEX project and our experiments remain unclear.

Caffeine delays replication fork progression and enhances UV-induced homologous recombination in Chinese hamster cell lines

The ability to bypass DNA lesions encountered during replication is important in order to maintain cell viability and avoid genomic instability. Exposure of mammalian cells to UV-irradiation induces the formation of DNA lesions that stall replication forks. In order to restore replication, different bypass mechanisms are operating, previously named post-replication repair. Translesion DNA synthesis is performed by low-fidelity polymerases, which can replicate across damaged sites. The nature of lesions and of polymerases involved influences the resulting frequency of mutations. Homologous recombination represents an alternative pathway for the rescue of stalled replication forks. Caffeine has long been recognized to influence post-replication repair, although the mechanism is not identified. Here, we found that caffeine delays the progress of replication forks in UV-irradiated Chinese hamster cells. The length of this enhanced delay was similar in wild-type cells and in cell deficient in either homologous recombination or nucleotide excision repair. Furthermore, caffeine attenuated the frequency of UV-induced mutations in the hprt gene, whereas the frequency of recombination, monitored in this same gene, was enhanced. These observations indicate that in cells exposed to UV-light, caffeine inhibits the rescue of stalled replication forks by translesion DNA synthesis, thereby causing a switch to bypass via homologous recombination. The biological consequence of the former pathway is mutations, while the latter results in chromosomal aberrations.

Small Interfering RNA-Mediated Silencing of Cytochrome P450 3A4 Gene

RNA interference (RNAi) is a specific and powerful tool used to manipulate gene expression and study gene function. The cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) can metabolize more than 50% of drugs. In the present study, we investigated whether vector-expressed small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) altered the CYP3A4 expression and function using the Chinese hamster cell line (V79) overexpressing CYP3A4 (CHL-3A4). Three different siRNA oligonucleotides (3A4I, 3A4II, and 3A4III) were designed and tested for their ability to interfere with CYP3A4 gene expression. Our study demonstrated that transient transfection of CHL-3A4 cells with the 3A4III siRNAs, but not 3A4I and II, significantly reduced CYP3A4 mRNA levels by 65% and protein expression levels by 75%. All these siRNAs did not affect the expression of CYP3A5 at both mRNA and protein levels in V79 cells overexpressing CYP3A5. Transfection of CHL-3A4 cells with 3A4III siRNAs significantly diminished the cytotoxicity of two CYP3A4 substrate drugs, cyclophosphamide and ifosfamide, in CHL-3A4 cells, with the IC50 increased from 55 to 210 microM to >1000 microM. Nifedipine at 5.78, 14.44, and 28.88 microM was significantly (P < 0.01) depleted by approximately 100, 40, and 22%, respectively, in S9 fractions from CHL-3A4 cells compared with parental CHL-pIC19h cells. In addition, transfection of the CHL-3A4 cells with vectors expressing the 3A4III siRNAs almost completely inhibited CYP3A4-mediated nifedipine metabolism. This study demonstrated, for the first time, the specific suppression of CYP3A4 expression and function using vector-based RNAi technique. The use of RNAi is a promising tool for the study of cytochrome P450 family function.

Stable formation of mutated p53 multimers in a Chinese hamster cell line causes defective p53 nuclear localization and abrogates its residual function

We have previously described a methotrexate-resistant cell line (MTX M) characterized by amplified dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) genes, cytoplasmic p53 localization, and p53 stable tetramers. To investigate the p53 functionality in MTX M, the effect of chemical/physical agents was studied. In MTX M cells, DNA damage did not induce p53 or mdm-2 protein, while in the parental V79 cells, a residual p53 activity was found. cDNA sequencing showed that V79 and MTX M cells share the same mutations, indicating that the complete loss of p53 function in MTX M cells was due to cytoplasmic sequestration of a mutated p53 with residual activity. In Chinese hamster, both p53 and DHFR genes map on short arm of chromosome 2 suggesting that p53 itself might be amplified. However, fluorescence in situ hybridization with a hamster p53 probe showed only a single signal. Thus, the presence of p53 stable tetramers in MTX M cells, although correlated with DNA amplification, could not be the consequence of either p53 or DHFR gene amplification. Expression of a C-terminal human p53 peptide does not induce p53 nuclear accumulation, indicating that the cytoplasmic localization is due to a mechanism different from that already described in cancer cell lines. Treatments with Sodium Butyrate induced beta-tubulin polymerization, but did not apparently organize a normal microtubule network, which is shown to be important for the p53 localization. Our data indicated that in MTX M cells, p53 is sequestered in the cytoplasm by a novel mechanism that abrogates p53 residual function.

Molecular cloning of Chinese hamster 1q31 chromosomal fragile site DNA that is important to mdr1 gene amplification reveals a novel gene whose expression is associated with spermatocyte and adipocyte differentiation

DNA amplification plays important roles in the development of drug resistance and tumor progression. One mechanism of DNA amplification involves the breakage-fusion-bridge (BFB) cycle. We previously reported that in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line, breakage at fragile site 1q31 was associated with mdr1 gene amplification through the BFB mechanism. To elucidate the molecular basis of BFB-mediated DNA amplification, we cloned 1q31 fragile site DNA from a Chinese hamster cell line containing an integrated neomycin-resistance marker. Sequence analyses revealed many characteristics similar to those in other common fragile sites. Moreover, this fragile site contains an evolutionarily conserved novel gene, designated fragile site-associated ( FSA) gene. FSA encodes a ∼16-kb mRNA, from which an unusually large open reading frame (orf) of 5005 amino acids can be deduced. The C-terminal portion of FSA shares a striking sequence similarity to that of Caenorhabditi elegans lipid depleted-3 ( lpd-3) gene whose function has been demonstrated to involve in lipid storage. We also demonstrated that expression of FSA is associated with the developmental programs of spermatogenesis and adipogenesis. Our results suggest that the Chinese hamster 1q31 fragile site has many important functions including regulation of mdr1 amplification and differentiation of adipocytes and spermatocytes.

Monte Carlo Simulation of Base and Nucleotide Excision Repair of Clustered DNA Damage Sites. II. Comparisons of Model Predictions to Measured Data

Clustered damage sites other than double-strand breaks (DSBs) have the potential to contribute to deleterious effects of ionizing radiation, such as cell killing and mutagenesis. In the companion article (Semenenko et al., Radiat. Res. 164, 180-193, 2005), a general Monte Carlo framework to simulate key steps in the base and nucleotide excision repair of DNA damage other than DSBs is proposed. In this article, model predictions are compared to measured data for selected low-and high-LET radiations. The Monte Carlo model reproduces experimental observations for the formation of enzymatic DSBs in Escherichia coli and cells of two Chinese hamster cell lines (V79 and xrs5). Comparisons of model predictions with experimental values for low-LET radiation suggest that an inhibition of DNA backbone incision at the sites of base damage by opposing strand breaks is active over longer distances between the damaged base and the strand break in hamster cells (8 bp) compared to E. coli (3 bp). Model estimates for the induction of point mutations in the human hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HPRT) gene by ionizing radiation are of the same order of magnitude as the measured mutation frequencies. Trends in the mutation frequency for low- and high-LET radiation are predicted correctly by the model. The agreement between selected experimental data sets and simulation results provides some confidence in postulated mechanisms for excision repair of DNA damage other than DSBs and suggests that the proposed Monte Carlo scheme is useful for predicting repair outcomes.

Altered centrosomes in ataxia‐telangiectasia cells and rapamycin‐treated Chinese hamster cells

Rapamycin induces chromosome malsegregation in mammalian cell lines and yeast. Previous studies indicate that the function impaired in ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) patients is necessary for both the growth inhibition and the chromosome malsegregation induced by rapamycin, and that treating the non-tumorigenic Chinese hamster cell line CHEF/18 with rapamycin results in supernumerary centrosomes and multipolar spindles. In this paper we report that lymphoblastoid cell lines established from A-T patients as well as hamster A-T-like cells are more resistant to rapamycin than the respective normal cell lines. Two cell lines derived from Nijmegen Breakage Syndrome (NBS) patients, who have clinical symptoms similar to those of A-T but a different molecular defect, were not resistant to rapamycin. Both A-T lymphoblastoid cells and A-T-like fibroblasts had giant centrosomes formed by more than two areas of gamma-tubulin-reacting material. Such giant centrosomes were also observed in CHEF/18 cells after prolonged treatment with rapamycin. Formation of giant centrosomes, possibly due to the coalescence of supernumerary centrosomes, was associated with increased aneuploidy in treated cells. Expression analysis of cell-cycle regulatory genes in rapamycin-treated human lymphoblastoid cells indicated that rapamycin decreased the expression of the tumor suppressor gene GADD45. The levels of RB, p21 and p53 mRNA were also decreased, although to a lesser extent. As rapamycin is often used as an immunosuppressant in pediatric transplant patients, these data indicate that caution should be taken, especially when the drug is given for prolonged periods of time.

Nitroarylmethylcarbamate prodrugs of doxorubicin for use with nitroreductase gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy

A series of nitrobenzyl- and nitroimidazolylmethyl carbamate prodrugs of doxorubicin were prepared and evaluated for their potential use in nitroreductase (NTR) mediated gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy (GDEPT). The carbamate prodrugs and doxorubicin were tested in a cell line panel comprising parental and NTR transfected human (SKOV3/SKOV3–NTR neo, WiDr/WiDr–NTR neo), Chinese hamster (V79/V79–NTR puro) and murine (EMT6/EMT6–NTR puro) cell line pairs, and were compared with the established NTR substrates CB 1954 (an aziridinyl dinitrobenzamide) and the analogous dibromomustard SN 29427. The low solubility of the prodrugs (from 3 to 39 μM) precluded the determination of IC 50 values against the parent cell lines in some instances. All of the prodrugs were unstable in culture medium with 5% added fetal calf serum over a 24 h period, although release of doxorubicin was not observed. The prodrugs were 20- to >336-fold less toxic than doxorubicin in the human cells lines SKOV3 and WiDr, with overall less deactivation seen in the V79 cell line (11- to >286-fold) and EMT6 cell line (1.8- to >178-fold). Prodrugs with the nitrobenzyl unit directly conjugated to doxorubicin showed modest selectivity for NTR across the cell line panel (1- to 5.9-fold) but this was increased to between >10- and >370-fold with the interpolation of an 4-aminobenzyl spacer unit between the bioreductive unit and doxorubicin. A 2-nitroimidazolylmethyl carbamate provided deactivation of doxorubicin (8- to 124-fold) but showed only modest selectivity for NTR (2- to 14-fold) across the panel. The interpolation of a 4-aminobenzyl spacer gave slightly lower deactivation (3- to 64-fold) and similar selectivity for NTR (>1.2- to >12-fold) for 2- and 5-nitroimidazolylmethyl prodrugs. The activity of two nitrobenzyl prodrugs containing an aminobenzyl spacer, providing excellent selectivity for NTR+ve cells in culture, was evaluated against EMT6 tumours comprising ca. 10% NTR+ve cells, but neither showed statistically significant levels of killing even of NTR+ve cells. This lack of activity in tumours, despite potent and selective activity in culture, indicates that pharmacokinetic optimization is needed to achieve in vivo efficacy against solid tumours with this new class of NTR prodrugs.

Mutagenicity and DNA repair of glycidamide-induced adducts in mammalian cells

Glycidamide (GA)-induced mutagenesis in mammalian cells is not very well understood. Here, we investigated mutagenicity and DNA repair of GA-induced adducts utilizing Chinese hamster cell lines deficient in base excision repair (BER), nucleotide excision repair (NER) or homologous recombination (HR) in comparison to parent wild-type cells. We used the DRAG assay in order to map pathways involved in the repair of GA-induced DNA lesions. This assay utilizes the principle that a DNA repair deficient cell line is expected to be affected in growth and/or survival more than a repair proficient cell. A significant induction of mutations by GA was detected in the hprt locus of wild-type cells but not in BER deficient cells. Cells deficient in HR or BER were three or five times, respectively, more sensitive to GA in terms of growth inhibition than were wild-type cells. The results obtained on the rate of incisions in BER and NER suggest that lesions induced by GA are repaired by short patch BER rather than long patch BER or NER. Furthermore, a large proportion of the GA-induced lesions gave rise to strand breaks that are repaired by a mechanism not involving PARP. It is suggested that these strand breaks, which might be the results from alkylation of the backbone phosphate, are misrepaired by HR during replication thereby leading to a clastogenic rather than a mutagenic pathway. The type of lesion responsible for the mutagenic effect of GA cannot be concluded from the results presented in this study.

Effect of Wortmannin on the repair profiles of DNA double-strand breaks in the whole genome and in interstitial telomeric sequences of Chinese hamster cells

The DNA breakage detection-fluorescence in situ hybridization (DBD-FISH) procedure was applied to analyze the effect of Wortmannin (WM) in the rejoining kinetics of ionizing radiation-induced DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in the whole genome and in the long interstitial telomeric repeat sequence (ITRS) blocks from Chinese hamster cell lines. The results indicate that the ITRS blocks from wild-type Chinese hamster cell lines, CHO9 and V79B, exhibit a slower initial rejoining rate of ionizing radiation-induced DSBs than the genome overall. Neither Rad51C nor the catalytic subunit of DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PKcs) activities, involved in homologous recombination (HR) and in non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) pathways of DSB repair respectively, influenced the rejoining kinetics within ITRS in contrast to DNA sequences in the whole genome. Nevertheless, DSB removal rate within ITRS was decreased in the absence of Ku86 activity, though at a lower affectation level than in the whole genome, thus homogenizing both rejoining kinetics rates. WM treatment slowed down the DSB rejoining kinetics rate in ITRS, this effect being more pronounced in the whole genome, resulting in a similar pattern to that of the Ku86 deficient cells. In fact, no WM effect was detected in the Ku86 deficient Chinese hamster cells, so probably WM does not add further impairment in DSB rejoining than that resulted as a consequence of absence of Ku activity. The same slowing effect was also observed after treatment of Rad51C and DNA-PKcs defective hamster cells by WM, suggesting that: (1) there is no potentiation of the HR when the NHEJ is impaired by WM, either in the whole genome or in the ITRS, and (2) that this impairment may probably involve more targets than DNA-PKcs. These results suggest that there is an intragenomic heterogeneity in DSB repair, as well as in the effect of WM on this process.

Involvement of Poly(ADP-ribose) Polymerase-1 and XRCC1/DNA Ligase III in an Alternative Route for DNA Double-strand Breaks Rejoining

The efficient repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) is critical for the maintenance of genomic integrity. In mammalian cells, the nonhomologous end-joining process that represents the predominant repair pathway relies on the DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) and the XRCC4-DNA ligase IV complex. Nonetheless, several in vitro and in vivo results indicate that mammalian cells use more than a single end-joining mechanism. While searching for a DNA-PK-independent end-joining activity, we found that the pretreatment of DNA-PK-proficient and -deficient rodent cells with an inhibitor of the poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 enzyme (PARP-1) led to increased cytotoxicity of the highly efficient DNA double-strand breaking compound calicheamicin gamma1. In addition, the repair kinetics of the DSBs induced by calicheamicin gamma1 was delayed both in PARP-1-proficient cells pretreated with the PARP-1 inhibitor and in PARP-1-deficient cells. In order to get new insights into the mechanism of an alternative route for DSBs repair, we have established a new synapsis and end-joining two-step assay in vitro, operating on DSBs with either nuclear protein extracts or recombinant proteins. We found an end-joining activity independent of the DNA-PK/XRCC4-ligase IV complex but that actually required a novel synapsis activity of PARP-1 and the ligation activity of the XRCC1-DNA ligase III complex, proteins otherwise involved in the base excision repair pathway. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that a PARP-1-dependent DSBs end-joining activity may exist in mammalian cells. We propose that this mechanism could act as an alternative route of DSBs repair that complements the DNA-PK/XRCC4/ligase IV-dependent nonhomologous end-joining.

A method to monitor replication fork progression in mammalian cells: nucleotide excision repair enhances and homologous recombination delays elongation along damaged DNA.

The capacity to rescue stalled replication forks (RFs) is important for the maintenance of cell viability and genome integrity. Here, we have developed a novel method for monitoring RF progression and the influence of DNA lesions on this process. The method is based on the principle that each RF is expected to be associated with a pair of single-stranded ends, which can be analyzed by employing strand separation in alkali. This method was applied to examine the rate of RF progression in Chinese hamster cell lines deficient in ERCC1, which is involved in nucleotide excision repair (NER), or in XRCC3, which participates in homologous recombination repair, following irradiation with ultraviolet (UV) light or exposure to benzo(a)pyrene-7,8-diol-9,10-epoxide (BPDE). The endpoints observed were cell survival, NER activity, formation of double-strand breaks and the rate of RF progression. Subsequently, we attempted to explain our observation that cells deficient in XRCC3 (irs1SF) exhibit enhanced sensitivity to UV radiation and BPDE. irs1SF cells demonstrated a capacity for NER that was comparable with wild-type AA8 cells, but the rate of RF progression was even higher than that for the wild-type AA8 cells. As expected, cells deficient in ERCC1 (UV4) showed no NER activity and were hypersensitive to both UV radiation and BPDE. The observation that cells deficient in NER displayed a pronounced delay in RF progression indicates that NER plays an important role in maintaining fork progression along damaged DNA. The elevated rate of RF progression in XRCC3-deficient cells indicates that this protein is involved in a time-consuming process which resolves stalled RFs.

494 Preliminary results from a phase I clinical trial of the bioreductive drug, RH1

A series of nitrobenzyl- and nitroimidazolylmethyl carbamate prodrugs of doxorubicin were prepared and evaluated for their potential use in nitroreductase (NTR) mediated gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy (GDEPT). The carbamate prodrugs and doxorubicin were tested in a cell line panel comprising parental and NTR transfected human (SKOV3/SKOV3–NTRneo, WiDr/WiDr–NTRneo), Chinese hamster (V79/V79–NTRpuro) and murine (EMT6/EMT6–NTRpuro) cell line pairs, and were compared with the established NTR substrates CB 1954 (an aziridinyl dinitrobenzamide) and the analogous dibromomustard SN 29427. The low solubility of the prodrugs (from 3 to 39 μM) precluded the determination of IC50 values against the parent cell lines in some instances. All of the prodrugs were unstable in culture medium with 5% added fetal calf serum over a 24 h period, although release of doxorubicin was not observed. The prodrugs were 20- to >336-fold less toxic than doxorubicin in the human cells lines SKOV3 and WiDr, with overall less deactivation seen in the V79 cell line (11- to >286-fold) and EMT6 cell line (1.8- to >178-fold). Prodrugs with the nitrobenzyl unit directly conjugated to doxorubicin showed modest selectivity for NTR across the cell line panel (1- to 5.9-fold) but this was increased to between >10- and >370-fold with the interpolation of an 4-aminobenzyl spacer unit between the bioreductive unit and doxorubicin. A 2-nitroimidazolylmethyl carbamate provided deactivation of doxorubicin (8- to 124-fold) but showed only modest selectivity for NTR (2- to 14-fold) across the panel. The interpolation of a 4-aminobenzyl spacer gave slightly lower deactivation (3- to 64-fold) and similar selectivity for NTR (>1.2- to >12-fold) for 2- and 5-nitroimidazolylmethyl prodrugs. The activity of two nitrobenzyl prodrugs containing an aminobenzyl spacer, providing excellent selectivity for NTR+ve cells in culture, was evaluated against EMT6 tumours comprising ca. 10% NTR+ve cells, but neither showed statistically significant levels of killing even of NTR+ve cells. This lack of activity in tumours, despite potent and selective activity in culture, indicates that pharmacokinetic optimization is needed to achieve in vivo efficacy against solid tumours with this new class of NTR prodrugs.

Cellular response of X-ray sensitive hamster mutant cell lines to gemcitabine, cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil.

Five mutant Chinese hamster cell lines deficient in DNA repair with the corresponding parental cell lines were used to determine their sensitivity to cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil and gemcitabine. The mutations in the cell lines led to defective single strand break repair (EM-C11), defective recombination mediated repair (irs1SF), defective double strand break repair (XR-V15B, a Ku-80 mutant and CR-C1, a DNA-PKcs mutant) and an AT-like mutation (VC-4). All mutant cell lines had an impaired doubling time during exponential growth and an increased sensitivity to X-irradiation. We may conclude that for cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity the homologous recombination-associated DNA repair plays an important role in the repair of the cisplatin induced lesions, confirming previous results. In 5-FU and gemcitabine induced toxicity to cells, repair processes involved with radiation-induced damage were not implicated. This is in striking contrast to the role of cisplatin in radiosensitization where inhibition of the NHEJ pathway is implicated, and to the role of gemcitabine in sensitization where specific interference with the HR pathway is implicated.