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Molecular Biology and Genetics |
Laboratory of Molecular Pathology [L. B. M., D. K. B., R. L. D., E. C. F.], Division of Clinical Biochemistry and Human Metabolism, Department of Pathology [S. D., I. J.], The Center for Human Nutrition [S. G.], and Department of Biochemistry and HHMI [R. E. H.], University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390-9072, and Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Technology, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, Oregon 97201 [G. E. K.]
| ABSTRACT |
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| INTRODUCTION |
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Significant dysequilibrium between the rate of production of ROS and the efficiency of cellular defenses to such species can result in oxidative stress to cells. Oxidative stress in general, and oxidative DNA damage in particular, have been implicated in the pathogenesis of spontaneous cancers, as well as atherosclerosis, aging, inflammatory disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases (3
, 6, 7, 8)
. E.g., antioxidants such as ascorbate (vitamin C) and
-tocopherol (vitamin E) have been reported to initiate physiological responses that lower cancer risk (9)
. Antioxidants can also act as free radical scavengers by quenching free radicals or reacting with their products. A direct demonstration that increased oxidative stress can lead to increased cancer predisposition comes from a study with transgenic mice in which accelerated hepatocarcinogenesis was directly correlated with a disturbance in redox homeostasis in the liver by chronic activation of mitogen signaling (10)
. The authors of this study subsequently reported that vitamin E (
-tocopherol) administration significantly inhibited hepatic tumor formation in their transgenic mouse model (11)
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BER comprises a ubiquitous series of biochemical pathways for the removal of oxidative damage to the nitrogenous bases in DNA. BER is initiated by the action of a class of enzymes called DNA glycosylases, which hydrolyze the N-glycosylic bond between the deoxyribose sugar moiety and the DNA base, leaving sites of base loss, so-called AP sites (4) . AP sites can also be generated by spontaneous destabilization of N-glycosyl bonds, particularly after oxidative damage to the bases. AP sites are substrates for one or more AP endonucleases or AP lyases, which cleave the sugar-phosphate backbone of DNA, allowing for the processing of free ends and subsequent repair synthesis and DNA ligation.
Mammalian cells contain a single major endonuclease encoded by a gene that has been variously designated as Ref-1 or APE (12 , 13) . The gene that encodes the murine AP-endonuclease is called Apex (14) . In addition to its absolute requirement for BER, the Apex protein has at least two other known functions. First, it is required for the redox activation of a number of spontaneously oxidized transcription factors (hence the designation Ref-1, for reducing factor), of which the Fos and Jun subunits are prime examples (15) . Thus, oxidation of conserved cysteine residues in the DNA-binding domain of several transcription factors abolishes DNA binding. Apex/Ref-1 protein facilitates DNA binding of transcription factors by reducing such oxidized cysteine residues, thereby participating in a type of "protein repair." In addition to this redox activity, recent studies have demonstrated that Apex protein is required for both the redox-dependent and independent activation of p53 in vitro (16) . Consistent with this function, we reported previously that the predisposition to UV radiation-induced skin cancer in Xpc mutant mice, which are defective in nucleotide excision repair, is enhanced if these animals are heterozygous additionally for either p53 or Apex (17 , 18) . The kinetics of cancer induction in Xpc-/- mice that are heterozygous additionally for both p53 and Apex is indistinguishable from that in Xpc-/- animals heterozygous for just p53, suggesting that the enhanced predisposition to skin cancer in Xpc-/- Apex+/- animals results from loss of p53 activity, which in turn is dependent on normal Ref-1 activity.
Several attempts to generate a knockout mouse model for Apex have resulted in embryonic lethality (19 , 20) . In this study, we confirm this observation in independent experiments. However, we have observed distinct phenotypes in animals carrying a heterozygous mutation in the Apex gene. Specifically, we show that MEFs and specific cerebellar cells derived from Apex+/- animals are hypersensitive to redox-cycling drugs in vitro. We also observed a biased lethality of Apex+/- embryos in utero and in weaned pups and demonstrated that specific dietary manipulation of pregnant females with antioxidants rescues a fraction of this embryonic lethality. Finally, we observed significantly increased levels of serum markers of oxidative stress in Apex+/- animals compared with wild-type litter mates and showed that dietary supplementation with antioxidants restored these oxidative markers to normal levels.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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Diet.
Vitamin E (dl-
-tocopherol acetate) supplemented (500 units/g of diet) and control chows were prepared by Harlan-Teklad (Madison, WI) on the basis of AIN-76A-purified diet. Vitamin E-enriched diet also contained trace amounts of selenium (as Na2SeO3 at 0.0005 g/kg of diet) to aid in the absorption of vitamin E. Vitamin C (Harlan-Teklad) was administered in the drinking water at a concentration of 1 g/liter. The mice had free access to food and water. The diet and vitamin C stock were stored at 4°C and replaced every 34 days. No overall differences in food consumption were noted between animals fed supplemented or control diet. No adverse effect of vitamin administration was noted in the treated animals.
Treatment of MEFs and Cerebellar Granule Cell Cultures with Genotoxic Agents.
MEFs were obtained from E13.5 day embryos that were minced in tissue culture dishes containing DMEM supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (Life Technologies, Inc.). Cells were plated at a density of 5 x 105 cells/60-mm dish. Triplicate plates were used for each dose. Paraquat dichloride (Sigma Chemical Co.) and menadione bisulfite (Sigma Chemical Co.) were dissolved in water and filter sterilized before use. Both drugs were prepared fresh before each experiment. Viability was scored by using the XTT Cell Proliferation kit (Roche), following the manufacturers instructions.
Cerebellar granule cell cultures (7 DIV) from wild-type and Apex heterozygote mice were treated with menadione for 20 h, the culture media removed and the cultures incubated for 10 min with fluorochrome (calcein-AM and propidium iodide) containing culture media. After incubation, fluorescently labeled cell cultures were photographed and cell viability determined by counting the total number of live (green) and dead (red) cells in fluorescent images taken from three random fields (approximately 200300 cells/field) of each well.
Vitamin Rescue.
Apex heterozygote female mice were either fed a specially formulated diet rich in vitamins E and C or normal chow (control diet). The vitamin-enriched diet was administered at least 2 weeks before mating. After these 2 weeks, Apex+/- females were crossed to Apex+/- male mice. The male mice used in the crosses were fed control diet. Females were either sacrificed between days 8.5 and 12.5 of gestation or allowed to carry gestation to term. No adverse effect of the diet was observed with respect to litter size. Total genomic DNA prepared from dissected embryos or clipped tail from weaned pups was used for genotyping by PCR.
PCR Genotyping.
A three-primer PCR strategy was developed to genotype animals or embryos generated by Apex+/- intercrosses. Genotyping of genomic DNA from embryos and tail clippings was performed using a common forward primer Apex401421.for 5'AGCGCGTTTCGCGAGCCCTGC, one reverse primer specific for the wild-type allele Apex672651.rev 5'GGGTTCTTCCCCGTCGTCGGC, and one reverse primer for the mutant allele ApexKO.rev 5'GCTGGCGAAAGGGGGATGTGC, located in the lacZ gene. The diagnostic fragment for the wild-type allele is
270 bp and for the mutant allele is 200 bp.
Measurement of Antioxidant and Oxidative Markers in Blood.
Six- to 8-week-old Apex+/- animals, both males and females, were either fed the vitamin supplemented or the control diet. A minimum of 10 animals was used for each group. After 2 weeks of diet supplementation, animals were sacrificed by CO2 inhalation, and blood was collected in tubes containing EDTA as anticoagulant. Plasma levels of
-tocopherol were measured using reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography as described previously (22)
. This was done to confirm that the vitamin E administered was also being absorbed by the body. Three markers of oxidative stress were also measured. These are plasma F2-isoprostanes, which are a direct in vivo measure of whole-body oxidative stress; protein carbonyls; and lipid peroxides, markers for protein and lipid oxidation, respectively. F2-isoprostane levels were measured in plasma samples that were frozen immediately after blood collection and separation. F2-isoprostanes were quantitated by ELISA, performed using reagents from Cayman Chemicals (Ann Arbor, MI), with 8-epi-PGF2
as standard. Plasma oxidation was measured at 0 and 4 h after incubation with 100 mM 22' azo bis amidino proprane hydrochloride, an aqueous free radical initiator. The indices of oxidation include the measurement of protein carbonyls and lipid peroxides. The protein carbonyls were measured by ELISA developed in one of the laboratories involved in this study (23)
. Lipid peroxides were measured by the ferrous oxide xylenol orange method as described previously (24)
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Statistical Analyses.
All statistical analysis were carried out using Sigma Chemical Co. stat. Paired t tests were used to assess significance and Wilcoxon signed rank tests for nonparametric data, and the level of significance was set at P < 0.05.
| RESULTS AND DISCUSSION |
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Reducing expression of the Apex gene by antisense treatment had been reported previously to sensitize different cell types to agents known to cause damage that is repairable by BER (25
, 26) . We examined the survival of Apex+/- cells after treatment with menadione and paraquat, two well-characterized and potent inducers of oxygen-mediated DNA damage. As shown in Fig. 1
, decreased levels of Apex protein associated with a heterozygote mutation in the Apex gene result in significantly increased sensitivity of MEFs to killing by both menadione (Fig. 1A)
and paraquat (Fig. 1B)
. In contrast, and consistent with the fact that Apex+/- cells are proficient for nucleotide excision repair, the Apex+/- MEFs were resistant to killing induced by UV radiation (data not shown). We also examined the sensitivity of cerebellar granule cell neurons derived from Apex+/- mice to the oxidant menadione. As shown in Fig. 1C
, Apex+/- cerebellar granule neurons are hypersensitive to menadione at a concentration of 50 µM menadione.
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During the course of these experiments, we observed a reduction in the number of heterozygous mutant embryos and young pups compared with that predicted by normal Mendelian inheritance (Tables 1
and 2
). This decrease was not statistically significant by the paired Student t test. However, we consider this to be an interesting trend and therefore investigated the possibility that might be reflective of increased oxidative stress in Apex+/- mice. In light of the relationship of the Apex protein to protection against the lethal effects of oxidative stress, we attempted to rescue embryonic lethality in Apex+/- mice by dietary modification in pregnant mothers. We fed an antioxidant-enriched diet to Apex+/- females 2 weeks before conception and throughout pregnancy. The antioxidant-enriched diet did not rescue lethality of Apex-/- animals and did not increase the life expectancy of mutant embryos, because at E7.5, we still could not detect Apex-/- animals (Table 2)
. However, as shown in Tables 1
and 2
, dietary manipulation increased the number of viable heterozygous mutants in the pure 129.Sv genetic background and in mice of the mixed genetic background C57Bl/6 and 129.Sv (50% each), both for weaned pups and embryos. Regardless of the present statistical limitations, these observations suggest that a fraction of heterozygous Apex mutant embryos do indeed die as a result of oxidative stress.
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-tocopherol (the most potent isomer of vitamin E) in both Apex+/+ and Apex+/- animals. Apex+/- animals showed significantly higher levels of lipid peroxidation (P < 0.01) and plasma F2 isoprostanes (P < 0.001) compared with wild-type controls (Fig. 2, B and C
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-tocopherol up-regulated BER and ß-pol levels. Oxidative stress also results in up-regulation of the Apex gene (34)
. Hence, oxidative stress-mediated induction of Apex and ß-pol can be considered an important mechanism for protection against genotoxic attack by ROS. Consistent with this model, the data presented here demonstrate that reduction in the levels of a BER enzyme can significantly increase oxidative stress and that antioxidant administration is effective in lowering levels of oxidation in vivo. Moreover, the role of the Apex protein as a redox-regulator of the activity of several transcription factors can also be an important determinant in the increased susceptibility of Apex+/- animals to oxidative stress. Limiting amounts of the Apex protein would be detrimental because less than optimal BER and protein repair activity would result in increased oxidative stress in cells. Indeed we have directly demonstrated increased levels of markers of oxidative stress in Apex+/- animals.
The increased susceptibility to oxidative stress does not seem to significantly decrease the life expectancy of Apex+/- animals kept under standard laboratory conditions (data not shown). Nor did we observe an obvious increase in cancers visible to the naked eye in such animals. However, detailed histopathological analysis of deceased Apex+/- animals and different control genotypes suggests that the Apex+/- state may indeed predispose to increased spontaneous carcinogenesis (Fig. 3
and Table 3
). In wild-type animals and Xpc-/- animals, the frequency of spontaneous tumors varied between 0 and 5% (Table 3)
. In contrast, 25% of the Apex+/- animals examined developed microscopic tumors of one sort or another. The double mutant combination Xpc-/- Apex+/- also showed an increased incidence of microscopic spontaneous tumors compared with the single Xpc mutant (16% versus 5%). The spontaneous tumors observed in Apex+/- animals were lymphomas (two cases), a single adenocarcinoma, and a sarcoma (Fig. 3)
. Interestingly, we also observed cardiac abnormalities in three Apex+/- mice but not in any other genotype (data not shown).
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| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| FOOTNOTES |
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1 Supported by research Grant CA44247 from the USPHS (to E. C. F.), a fellowship from The Friends of the Center for Human Nutrition, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (to L. B. M.), and USPHS Grants AT00005 and K24AT00596 (to S. D.). ![]()
2 To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Laboratory of Molecular Pathology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390-9072. ![]()
3 The abbreviations used are: ROS, reactive oxygen species; BER, base excision repair; AP, apurinic/apyrimidinic; MEF, mouse embryonic fibroblast; ES, embryonic stem; ß-pol, polymerase ß; Ox-LDL, oxidized low-density lipoprotein. ![]()
Received 2/16/01. Accepted 5/10/01.
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-lipoic acid supplementation on measures of oxidative stress. Free Radic. Biol. Med., 27: 1114-1121, 1999.[Medline]
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