Protein-bound Adducts Research Articles

Peroxidase activation of tamoxifen and toremifene resulting in DNA damage and covalently bound protein adducts.

When [14C]tamoxifen was incubated with horseradish peroxidase and H2O2, two major metabolites, separated and identified by HPLC, were N-desmethyltamoxifen and tamoxifen N-oxide. Toremifene incubated in a similar system yielded N-desmethyltoremifene and toremifene N-oxide. No 4-hydroxylated metabolites were detected with either drug. When calf thymus DNA was included in peroxidase incubation mixtures, DNA damage, as assessed by 32P-postlabelling, could also be detected. The extent of damage caused by tamoxifen and toremifene was similar. The major adducts formed following incubation of DNA with tamoxifen had similar Rf values to two of the 32P-postlabelled adducts seen following dosing of rats with tamoxifen. Peroxidase was able to activate both drugs to derivatives which covalently bound to bovine serum albumin. The pH optimum for covalent binding and N-demethylation was near to pH 6.0. Results from liquid chromatography-electrospray secondary ion mass spectrometry suggest that tamoxifen and toremifene are metabolized by peroxidase to putative reactive epoxide intermediates responsible for the genotoxic effects. It is proposed that peroxidase oxidizes tamoxifen to a carbon-centred free radical which reacts with oxygen to form peroxy radicals capable of inserting an oxygen atom into tamoxifen. Lactoperoxidase and prostaglandin synthase are also able to catalyse tamoxifen N-demethylation and binding to protein. These data show that peroxidase can activate both tamoxifen and toremifene to an intermediate(s) that can damage DNA and covalently react with protein. Since it is known that women treated with tamoxifen can develop endometrial tumours, it may be relevant to determine whether activation of tamoxifen by peroxidases may contribute to its carcinogenic action at extrahepatic sites.

Peroxynitrite-mediated tyrosine nitration catalyzed by superoxide dismutase

Peroxynitrite (ONOO −), the reaction product of superoxide (O 2 −) and nitric oxide (NO), may be a major cytotoxic agent produced during inflammation, sepsis, and ischemia/reperfusion. Bovine Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase reacted with peroxynitrite to form a stable yellow protein-bound adduct identified as nitrotyrosine. The uv-visible spectrum of the peroxynitrite-modified superoxide dismutase was highly pH dependent, exhibiting a peak at 438 nm at alkaline pH that shifts to 356 nm at acidic pH. An equivalent uv-visible spectrum was obtained by Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase treated with tetranitromethane. The Raman spectrum of authentic nitrotyrosine was contained in the spectrum of peroxynitrite-modified Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase. The reaction was specific for peroxynitrite because no significant amounts of nitrotyrosine were formed with nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2), nitrite (NO 2 −), or nitrate (NO 3 −). Removal of the copper from the Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase prevented formation of nitrotyrosine by peroxynitrite. The mechanism appears to involve peroxynitrite initially reacting with the active site copper to form an intermediate with the reactivity of nitronium ion (NO 2 +), which then nitrates tyrosine on a second molecule of superoxide dismutase. In the absence of exogenous phenolics, the rate of nitration of tyrosine followed second-order kinetics with respect to Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase concentration, proceeding at a rate of 1.0 ± 0.1 m −1 · s −1. Peroxynitrite-mediated nitration of tyrosine was also observed with the Mn and Fe superoxide dismutases as well as other copper-containing proteins.

Rates of ethyl acrylate binding to glutathione and protein

Ethyl acrylate is a monomer used extensively in polymer manufacturing. Although ethyl actylate is toxic at high concentrations, it is metabolized and detoxified rapidly at low concentrations. In the current studies, in vitro experiments have demonstrated that [ 14C]ethyl acrylate reacts with both glutathione (GSH) and protein to give either [ 14C]3-(glutathion- S-yl)ethylpropionate or covalently bound protein adducts, respectively. The second-order rate constant for [ 14C]ethyl acrylate conjugation with GSH was determined by quantification of [ 14C]3-(glutathion- S-yl)ethylpropionate using an HPLC system equipped with a flowthrough radioactive detector. The rate constant for conjugation was 32.8 M −1 min −1. Additionally, the apparent second-order rate constants were determined for [ 14C]ethyl acrylate binding to the protein fraction of 14 whole tissue homogenates. Estimation of total protein binding sites was performed by reacting tissue homogenates with high concentrations of [ 14C]ethyl acrylate, while rates of binding were determined by reacting tissue homogenates with 200 μM [ 14C]ethyl acrylate at 37°C for various periods of time. Apparent second-order rate constants for ethyl acrylate binding to protein homogenates were similar to that observed for GSH reacting with ethyl acrylate. The role of GSH-transferase in catalyzing 3-(glutathion- S-yl)eth-ylpropionate formation also was evaluated with whole tissue homogenates. In most tissues, the GSH-transferases poorly catalyzed the conjugation reaction. However, a significant increase in 3-(glutathion- S-yl)ethylpropionate formation was observed with liver homogenate.

Covalent alteration of the prosthetic heme of human hemoglobin by BrCCl3. Cross-linking of heme to cysteine residue 93.

Recent studies have shown that a protein-bound heme adduct formed from the reaction of BrCCl3 with myoglobin was due to bonding of the proximal histidine residue through the ring I vinyl of a heme-CCl2 moiety. The present study reveals that BrCCl3 also reacts with the heme of reduced human hemoglobin to form two protein-bound heme adducts. Edman degradation and mass spectrometry provided evidence that these protein-bound heme adducts were addition products in which heme-CCL2 or heme-CCl3 were bound to cysteine residue 93 of the beta-chain of hemoglobin. It appeared that the cysteine residue was bonded regiospecifically to the ring I vinyl group of the altered heme moiety, because the nonprotein-bound products of the reaction included the beta-carboxyvinyl and alpha-hydroxy-beta-trichloromethylethyl derivatives of the ring I vinyl moiety of heme. The absorption spectra of the protein-bound adducts in both the oxidized and reduced states were highly similar to those described for hemichromes, which are thought to be involved in the formation of Heinz bodies and subsequent red cell lysis.

Drug residue formation from ronidazole, a 5-nitroimidazole. VIII. Identification of the 2-methylene position as a site of protein alkylation

Ronidazole protein-bound adducts were generated by the in vitro anaerobic incubation of [2-methylene- 14C]ronidazole with microsomes from the livers of male rats. Acid hydrolysis of the protein adducts yielded an imidazole ring fragment bearing the radiolabel and an amino acid residue derived from the proteins. This fragment has been identified as carboxymethylcysteine by co-chromatography of the amino acid and its dansyl derivative with known standards under a variety of conditions. The carboxymethylcysteine was estimated to represent at least 15% of the radioactivity derived from the protein-bound adducts and provides unequivocal evidence that nucleophilic attack by protein cysteine thiols occurred at the 2-methylene position of ronidazole.

Covalent bonding of the prosthetic heme to protein: a potential mechanism for the suicide inactivation or activation of hemoproteins

In this perspective we have described a newly characterized pathway for the metabolism of the prosthetic heme of cytochrome P-450, which results in the formation of protein-bound adducts. This reaction occurs when the cytochrome P-450 metabolizes a variety of xenobiotics as well as endogenous compounds such as hydrogen peroxide and lipid hydroperoxides. It also takes place during the reactions catalyzed by other hemoproteins, such as myoglobin and hemoglobin. In the case of the reaction of ferrous myoglobin with BrCCl3, under single-turnover conditions, an intact heme moiety becomes covalently bound to an active-site amino acid. This covalently altered protein has significantly enhanced reductive activity compared to that of native myoglobin, as demonstrated by its rapid reduction of molecular oxygen and CCl4. It also is more rapidly proteolyzed than myoglobin. These findings may have relevance to the P-450 cytochromes in which suicide inactivation, destruction of the heme prosthetic group, and loss of the protein is observed. The activation of hemoproteins to heme-protein adducts may also have toxicological significance, perhaps in oxygen reperfusion injury in the myocardium as well as other tissues by enhancing the production of oxygen-derived radicals from molecular oxygen and lipid hydroperoxides. Clearly, further research in the characterization of heme-protein adducts is necessary before their importance in protein turnover and oxygen-induced injury can be determined.

Quantitation of carcinogen bound protein adducts by fluorescence measurements

A highly significant correlation of aflatoxin B 1 serum albumin adduct level with daily aflatoxin B 1 intake was observed in a molecular epidemiological study of aflatoxin carcinogenesis which used conventional fluorescence spectroscopy methods for adduct quantitation. Synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy and laser induced fluorescence techniques have been employed to quantitate antibenzo[ a]pyrene diol epoxide derived globin peptide adducts. Fast and efficient methods to isolate the peptide adducts as well as eliminate protein fluorescence background are described. A detection limit of several femtomoles has been achieved. Experimental and technical considerations of low temperature synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy and fluorescence line narrowing to improve the detection sensitivities are also presented.

Degradation of rat hepatic cytochrome P-450 heme by 3,5-dicarbethoxy-2, 6-dimethyl-4-ethyl-1,4-dihydropyridine to irreversibly bound protein adducts

Administration of 3,5-dicarbethoxy-2,6-dimethyl-4-ethyl-1,4-dihydropyridine (DDEP) (a structural analog of the dihydropyridine Ca 2+ antagonists) to untreated, phenobarbital-, or dexamethasone-pretreated rats results in time-dependent losses of hepatic cytochrome P-450 content. Functional markers for various cytochrome P-450 isozymes have permitted the identification of P-450 h, P-450 PB-1/k, and P-450 p as the isozymes inactivated preferentially by the drug. DDEP-mediated cytochrome P-450 destruction may be reproduced in vitro, is most prominent after pretreatment of rats with dexamethasone, pregnenolone 16α-carbonitrile or phenobarbital, and is blocked by triacetyloleandomycin. These findings together with the observation that DDEP markedly inactivates hepatic 2β- and 6β-testosterone hydroxylase and erythromycin N-demethylase tend to indict the steroid-inducible P-450 p isozyme as a key protagonist in this event. The precise mechanism of such DDEP-mediated P-450 p heme destruction is unclear, but involves prosthetic heme alkylation of the apocytochrome at its active site in what appears to be a novel mechanism-based “suicide” inactivation. Such inactivation appears to involve fragmentation of the heme to reactive metabolites that irreversibly bind to the protein, but the chemical structure of the heme-protein adducts is yet to be established. Intriguingly, such DDEP-mediated P-450 p destruction in vivo also results in accelerated loss of immunochemically detectable apocytochrome P-450 p. It remains to be determined whether or not this loss is due to enhanced proteolysis triggered by the structural modification of the apocytochrome.

The metabolic sulfonation and side-chain oxidation of 3′-hydroxyisosafrole in the mouse and its inactivity as a hepatocarcinogen relative to 1′-hydroxysafrole

The chemically synthesized sulfuric acid esters of 1'-hydroxysafrole and 3'-hydroxyisosafrole, 1'-sulfooxysafrole and 3'-sulfooxyisosafrole, respectively, are both strong electrophiles. Each ester reacted with deoxyguanosine (dGuo) in aqueous solution to form both safrol-1'-yl- and isosafrol-3'-yl-deoxyguanosine adducts. Both 1'-hydroxysafrole and 3'-hydroxyisosafrole were also formed from each ester in the presence of water. When either 1'-[3H]hydroxysafrole or 3'-[3H]hydroxyisosafrole was incubated with mouse liver cytosols fortified with 3'-phosphoadenosine-5'-phosphosulfate (PAPS) and RNA, similar levels of RNA- and protein-bound adducts were formed; thus, the hepatic sulfotransferase activities for these two substrates appear to be similar. In contrast, the levels of hepatic nucleic acid and protein adducts formed after administration of 3'-[3H]hydroxyisosafrole to mice were only 2-4% and 8-14%, respectively, of those obtained after an equimolar dose of 1'-[3H]hydroxysafrole. Likewise, when 3'-hydroxyisosafrole was injected into 12-day-old male B6C3F1 mice at a level of 0.1 or 2.5 mumol/g body wt., the average numbers of hepatomas per mouse (0.2 and 0.4, respectively) were not significantly increased over the average number for mice treated only with the solvent (0.2). By contrast, mice that received 0.1 mumol of 1'-hydroxysafrole/g body wt. developed about 2 hepatomas per mouse. The metabolism of 3'-hydroxyisosafrole in the rat and mouse differed markedly from that of 1'-hydroxysafrole. 3'-Hydroxyisosafrole rapidly underwent side-chain oxidation to yield 3,4-methylenedioxycinnamic acid and 3,4-methylenedioxybenzoic acid. In the first 4 h, 3,4-methylenedioxybenzoyl glycine and 3,4-methylenedioxycinnamoyl glycine, the major urinary metabolites, together accounted for 39% and 63% of the dose administered to rats and mice, respectively. The glucuronide of 3'-hydroxyisosafrole was not detected in the urine, whereas urinary excretion of the glucuronide of 1'-hydroxysafrole at 2 h accounted for approx. 40% of a dose of 1'-hydroxysafrole.