Regulation of GST-P gene expression during hepatocarcinogenesis

Chemoprevention against arsenic-induced mutagenic DNA breakage and apoptotic liver damage in rat via antioxidant and SOD1 upregulation by green tea (Camellia sinensis) which recovers broken DNA resulted from arsenic-H2O2 related in vitro oxidant stress

Green tea (Camellia sinensis; CS) strongly reverses/prevents arsenic-induced apoptotic hepatic degeneration/micronecrosis and mutagenic DNA damage in in vitro oxidant stress model and in rat as shown by comet assay and histoarchitecture (HE and PAS staining) results. Earlier, we demonstrated a link between carcinogenesis and impaired antioxidant system-associated mutagenic DNA damage in arsenic-exposed human. In this study, arsenic-induced (0.6 ppm/100 g body weight/day for 28 days) impairment of cytosolic superoxide-dismutase (SOD1), catalase, xanthine-oxidase, thiol, and urate activities/levels led to increase in tissue levels of damaging malondialdehyde, conjugated dienes, serum necrotic-marker lactate-dehydrogenase, and metabolic inflammatory-marker c-reactive protein suggesting dysregulation at the transcriptional/signal-transduction level. These are decisively restrained by CS-extract (≥10 mg/ml aqueous) with a restoration of DNA/tissue structure. The structural/functional impairment of dialyzed and centrifugally concentrated (6-8 kd cutoff) hepatic SOD1 via its important Cys modifications by H2O2/arsenite redox-stress and that protection by CS/2-mercaptoethanol are shown in in vitro/in situ studies paralleling the present Swiss-Model-generated rSOD1 structural data. Here, arsenite(3+) incubation (≥10(-8) μM + 10 mM H2O2, 2 hr) is shown for the first time with this low-concentration to initiate breakage in rat hepatic-DNA in vitro whereas, arsenite/H2O2/UV-radiation does not affect DNA separately. Arsenic initiates Fe and Cu ion-associated free-radical reaction cascade in vivo. Here, 10 μM of Cu(2+)/Fe(3+)/As(3+) +H2O2-induced in vitro DNA fragmentation is prevented by CS (≥1 mg/ml), greater than the prevention of ascorbate or tocopherol or DMSO or their combination. Moreover, CS incubation for various time with differentially and already degraded DNA resulted from pre-incubation in 10 μM As(3+)-H2O2 system markedly recovers broken DNA. Present results decisively suggest for the first time that CS and its mixed polyphenols have potent SOD1 protecting, diverse radical-scavenging and antimutagenic activities furthering to DNA protection/therapy in arsenic-induced tissue necrosis/apoptosis.

Mechanisms of a tumor marker, glutathione transferase P, expression during hepatocarcinogenesis of the rat

The molecular mechanism of any tumor marker expression may shed a light on the mechanism of the particular tumorigenesis. This idea in mind, we have been pursuing the mechanism of specific induction of the placental type glutathione transferase (GST-P) gene during hepatocarcinogenesis of the rat. Making use of advanced technologies of molecular biology including proteomic analysis, gene cloning and production of specific transgenic rats etc., we were able to identify the enhancer and the activator proteins responsible for this tumor marker expression. Negative regulatory regions and modulatory proteins were also found. The overview of this long range study and the future outlook of the problem will be discussed.

Altered gene expression of transcriptional regulatory factors in tumor marker-positive cells during chemically induced hepatocarcinogenesis

Glutathione-S-transferase placental form (GST-P) is markedly and specifically inducible in rat chemical hepatocarcinogenesis and is a reliable marker protein for pre-neoplasia. To gain insights into the molecular mechanisms at the early stage of hepatocarcinogenesis and hepatotoxicity, we investigated the gene expression profile by DNA microarray analysis. We prepared RNA from GST-P-positive foci in three individual rats and compared with normal liver sections from three individual rats, and labeled RNA was individually hybridized onto Affymetrix GeneChip Rat Expression Array 230A. DNA microarray analysis showed distinctly different profiles of dysregulated gene expression and supported the previous finding that some enzymes involved in metabolism and detoxification are overexpressed and suppressed. Here we discovered that several DNA-binding transcription factors and cofactors, including sterol-regulatory-element binding protein 1 (SREBP1) and Wilms' tumour 1 (WT1)-interacting protein, and their target genes were dysregulated in GST-P-positive foci. Moreover, genes involved in chromatin components, histone modification enzymes, and centrosome duplication were highly expressed. These genes were not previously known to be up-regulated during chemically induced hepatocarcinogenesis. DNA microarray analysis using RNA prepared from tumor marker-positive foci and control tissues provided a candidate gene link to the early stage of carcinogenesis and hepatotoxicity.

Increased estrogen sulfation of estradiol 17beta-D-glucuronide in metastatic tumor rat livers

Changes in the disposition of estradiol 17beta-d-glucuronide (E(2)17G), a substrate of the organic anion-transporting polypeptide family (Oatp) and multidrug resistance-associated protein 2 (Mrp2), were examined in livers of male Wag/Rij rats that were injected with CC531 cells intraportally to induce metastatic tumors (n = 5) or with phosphate-buffered saline for sham-operated controls (n = 4). Multiple indicator dilution, single-pass liver perfusions revealed extremely high influx clearances of [(3)H]E(2)17G (>190 ml/min) in both groups. In recirculating liver perfusions, [(3)H]E(2)17G decayed monoexponentially in the reservoir perfusate, and the total (9.19 +/- 1.33 versus 8.18 +/- 0.94 ml/min) and biliary (4.94 +/- 1.07 versus 4.60 +/- 0.86 ml/min) clearances were similar in both groups (P > 0.05). The metabolic clearance of E(2)17G was higher in the tumor group (4.60 +/- 0.64 versus 3.23 +/- 0.23 ml/min, P < 0.05). E(2)3S17G, the 3-sulfate metabolite, whose identity was confirmed by mass spectrometry, appeared only in bile and not perfusate. Liver microsomal incubations of E(2)3(35)S17G and [(3)H]estrone sulfate revealed similar sulfatase activities between the tumor and sham livers, albeit the activities were much lower for E(2)3(35)S17G. Oatp1a1 and Oatp1b2 protein expression in liver membrane fragments was reduced by 42% and 38%, respectively, whereas that of cytosolic estrogen sulfotransferase (Sult1e1) was significantly increased (41%) with tumor (P < 0.05). All of the observations were captured by modeling. From modeling, we showed that reduction of the high influx clearance (546 to 283 ml/min) failed to lower the total clearance of E(2)17G, whereas up-regulation of Sult1e1 increased the E(2)17G sulfation clearance (2.56 to 3.69 ml/min) in livers with metastatic tumors.