Comparative study of lung carcinogenesis, promoting action in leukaemogenesis and initiating action in skin tumorigenesis by urethane, hydrazine and related compounds

Inhibition of both skin and lung tumorigenesis by Car-R mouse-derived cancer modifier loci

The Car-R outbred mouse line was phenotypically selected for high resistance to two-stage skin tumorigenesis. In the present study we tested the hypothesis that a subset of genetic loci responsible for resistance to skin tumorigenesis of Car-R mice might also inhibit lung tumorigenesis. Skin and lung tumorigenesis were induced in groups of Car-R, SWR/J, (SWR/JxCar-R)F1 and SWR/Jx(SWR/JxCar-R) backcross mice by i.p. urethane initiation and skin TPA promotion. Car-R mice showed a much lower susceptibility to both skin and lung tumorigenesis as compared to SWR/J mice, which are susceptible to both lung and skin tumorigenesis. The Car-R-inherited genome significantly inhibited both skin and lung cancer development in the F1 progeny of Car-R with SWR/J mice. In the backcross population, skin and lung tumor phenotypes showed a statistically significant correlation, indicating that a subset of the cancer resistance alleles, which segregated in the Car-R line during selection for resistance to skin carcinogenesis, provides resistance to both skin and lung tumorigenesis.

On the question of the carcinogenic action of hydrazine--evaluation on the basis of new experimental results

Hydrazine has not previously been shown to have any carcinogenic action in man. After the administration of probably clearly toxic doses (the data in earlier publications are very fragmentary) or doses severely irritating to the sensitive nasal epithelium of the rodent over a large part of its life, hydrazine was shown in the majority of the studies described in the literature to be carcinogenic in rodents. Even under these severe experimental conditions, however, the carcinogenic action was not very pronounced or was even very weak. In the study in mice described below, which was carried out according to modern guidelines, no carcinogenic action was detected for hydrazine even after the administration of toxic doses over the entire lifespan of the animals. Administration of a still higher dose would have conflicted with all current recommendations. On the basis of the results available in the literature, indirect alkylation of DNA was assumed to be the mechanism of the carcinogenic action of hydrazine. According to the current level of knowledge, this effect, like the mutagenic and the carcinogenic action of the substance, is closely linked with the toxic activity of hydrazine. Overall, hydrazine should be regarded as a substance having a probably indirect weakly carcinogenic action after toxic doses administered over the entire lifespan.

Methylation of liver DNA guanine in hamsters given hydrazine

Formation of 7-methylguanine and O6-methylguanine in liver DNA was measured 24 hr after administration of various single oral doses of 15 to 120 mg hydrazine/kg body wt to Syrian golden hamsters, and at various times up to 96 hr after a single oral dose of 90 mg hydrazine/kg body wt. Formation of these bases in hamster liver DNA appeared similar to that reported earlier for rats and mice treated with necrogenic doses of hydrazine; however, persistence of O6-methylguanine in liver DNA following hydrazine administration was longer in hamster than in rat liver DNA. Administration of hydrazine sulfate in the drinking water of hamsters over a 9-week period resulted in accumulation of both 7-methylguanine and O6-methylguanine in liver DNA to the extent that about 2 out of every 10,000 guanine bases were methylated at each position on the base. Diethyl maleate pretreatment of hamsters depleted liver stores of glutathione and blocked DNA methylation in hydrazine-treated animals; however, buthionine sulfoximine, which also depleted glutathione stores, had no effect on the DNA methylation response to hydrazine poisoning in Sprague-Dawley rats. Hydrazine administration to hamsters and Swiss Webster mice resulted in more 7-methylguanine and O6-methylguanine in liver DNA than did administration of monomethylhydrazine, a proposed intermediate in the hydrazine-DNA methylation response. Even at the highest feasible dose of monomethylhydrazine to hamsters, no methylguanines could be detected, while these aberrant bases were readily quantifiable following hydrazine administration; thus, no evidence was obtained to support the proposal that monomethylhydrazine is an important intermediate in the methylation of DNA guanine in hydrazine-treated animals.

Synthesis and anticancer activity of novel cyclic N-hydroxyureas

To overcome the disadvantages of hydroxyurea in anticancer therapy such as fast biotransformation and low potency, five cyclic N-hydroxyureas were synthesized. A new reaction was developed to prepare the desired products from the appropriate alkyl omega-haloalkylcarbamates with hydroxylamine. This reaction probably involves a two-step mechanism: nucleophilic substitution and intramolecular cyclization. The anticancer screening tests of these compounds were done both in vitro using tissue culture and in vivo. One compound, 1-hydroxy-1,3-diazacylohexan-2-one, had anticancer activity comparable to hydroxyurea both in vivo and in vitro.

Morphological and biochemical effects of 1,2-dimethylhydrazine and 1-methylhydrazine in rats and mice

Single toxic doses of 1,2-dimethylhydrazine induced mild centrilobular necrosis of the liver in rats and mice. Ultrastructural studies showed hepatic nuclear changes including nucleolar microsegregation and changes in the endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria. 1-Methylhydrazine caused little morphological change in the liver. Tumours of the colon and kidney and also massive cystic hyperplasia of the liver were found in some of the rats and tumours of the anal margin and kidney in some of the mice, following single doses of 1,2-dimethylhydrazine. Incorporation of amino acids into rat liver proteins was inhibited by 1,2-dimethylhydrazine, which also caused disaggregation of hepatic polysomes. No effects on hepatic protein synthesis by 1,1-dimethylhydrazine or 1-methylhydrazine were observed. Similarities between the effects of 1,2-dimethylhydrazine, cycasin and dimethylnitrosamine are discussed.

The alkylation of nucleic acids of rat and mouse in vivo by the carcinogen 1,2-dimethylhydrazine

1,2-Dimethylhydrazine, in contrast to 1-methylhydrazine, is a potent carcinogen for the colon in rats and mice. 1,2-[(14)C]Dimethylhydrazine was administered to rats and mice in doses which are carcinogenic following a single dose in the former species, or carcinogenic on repeated administration in the latter species, and the rate of (14)CO(2) exhalation was measured. Exhalation of (14)CO(2) was also studied after administration of single doses of 1-[(14)C]methylhydrazine to mice. Incorporation of radioactivity into the nucleic acids of a variety of organs was found at a time after injection (about 6 h) when (14)CO(2) production from both compounds was virtually complete. Methylation of nucleic acids of liver and colon, as indicated by the formation of 7-methylguanine, was observed after treatment with 1,2-dimethylhydrazine and to a smaller extent by a factor of about 10 after treatment with 1-methylhydrazine. Less than 1% of a single dose of 1,2-[(14)C]dimethylhydrazine was excreted in the bile of rats as determined by chemical and radioactivity assays. The similarities of the biological and biochemical actions of 1,2-dimethylhydrazine with those of some nitroso compounds and of cycasin (methylazoxymethanol glucoside) are emphasized.