| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
Regular Articles |
Department of Dermatology, University Medical Center Utrecht, 3508 GA Utrecht [H. R., L. O. M., R. J. W. B., F. R. d. G.], and Laboratory for Health Effects Research, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, 3721 MA Bilthoven [A. W-d. V., H. v. S., H. J. v. K.], the Netherlands
 |
ABSTRACT |
|---|
 Top ABSTRACT INTRODUCTIONMATERIALS AND METHODSRESULTSDISCUSSIONAppendix 1REFERENCES |
|---|
Hairless SKH1 mice were exposed to either of two regimens of daily UVB (500 or 250 J/m2 broadband UV from Philips TL12 lamps; 54% UVB 280–315 nm). With the high-dose regimen, the average number of p53+ foci in a dorsal skin area (7.2 cm2) increased rapidly from 9.0 ± 2.1 (SE) at 15 days to 470 ± 80 (SE) at 40 days. At half that daily dose, the induction of p53+ foci was slower by a factor of 1.49 ± 0.15, very similar to a previously observed slower induction of squamous cell carcinomas by a factor of 1.54 ± 0.02. In a double-log plot of the average number of p53+ foci versus time, the curves for the two exposure regimens ran parallel (slope, 3.7 ± 0.7), similar to the curves for the number of tumors versus time (slope, 6.9 ± 0.8). The difference in slopes (3.7 versus 6.9) is in line with the contention that more rate-limiting steps are needed to develop a tumor than a p53+ focus. By the time the first tumors appear (around 7–8 weeks with the high daily dose), the dorsal skin contains >100 p53+ foci/cm2.
To further validate the density of p53+ foci as a direct measure of tumor risk, we carried out experiments with transgenic mice with an enhanced susceptibility to UV carcinogenesis, homozygous Xpa knockout mice (deficient in nucleotide excision repair) and heterozygous p53 knockout mice (i.a. partially deficient in apoptosis). In both of these cancer-prone strains, the p53+ foci were induced at markedly increased rates, corresponding to increased rates of carcinoma formation. Therefore, the frequency of p53+ foci appears to correlate well with UVB-induced tumor risk.
|
INTRODUCTION |
|---|
|
TopABSTRACTINTRODUCTIONMATERIALS AND METHODSRESULTSDISCUSSIONAppendix 1REFERENCES |
|---|
50%)
mutated gene in human cancers. An extensive database, originally set up
by Hollstein et al. (1)
, summarizes those
mutations in >50 different cell and tissue types and is at present
maintained at the
IARC.3
The timing of p53 somatic mutations in human cancers depends
on the tumor type as well as on the nature of the mutation. For
example, in sporadic colorectal cancer a complete loss of a gene (loss
of heterozygosity) is a late event (2)
, whereas in skin
cancers, p53 point mutations appear to occur early; they are
already present in preneoplastic lesions (3
, 4)
.
The p53 protein is involved in a great variety of regulatory pathways,
mainly through transcriptional activation but also through
protein-protein interactions (5)
. In response to DNA
damage or cellular stress, p53 activates genes that induce cell cycle
arrest to allow DNA repair to take place or induce apoptosis in the
case of overly damaged DNA. Dysfunctional and/or loss of p53 enhances
cell transformation and thereby carcinogenesis; therefore, p53 is
typically referred to as a "guardian of the genome"
(6)
. The "guardian of the tissue" function of p53
refers to its regulatory role in apoptosis, which is reduced in
p53 knockout mice (3)
, thus resulting in cancer
predisposition (7)
. Cells expressing mutant p53 protein
can in some cases be more tumorigenic than cells lacking endogenous
p53. This "gain of function" (8)
is caused by
particular missense mutations. The majority of sun exposure-related
skin carcinomas in humans bear missense mutations in p53 at
dipyrimidine sites. These C
T and CCTT transitions are
characteristic of UV and therefore called "UV signature mutations."
They are found in hotspots, clustered around codons 173–179, 235–250,
and 273–278 (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
. In most of these cases, the
wild-type allele appeared to be still present, indicating that the
p53 missense mutation is selected for in solar UV-induced
skin tumorigenesis. Most hotspot point-mutated p53 proteins have a
dominant-negative effect on wild-type p53. These mutant p53 proteins
are able to drive cotranslated wild-type p53 into mutant conformation,
resulting in tetramers that are inactive in DNA binding (14
, 15)
. In this regard, it is interesting to note that the
germ-line p53 mutations in (cancer-prone) Li-Fraumeni patients do not
appear to predispose for skin carcinomas, i.e., no increased
risk for skin carcinomas has been reported for these patients
(16)
, which is in line with the fact that among the
mutants that were tested only the codon 248 mutant (which is a
Li-Fraumeni mutation) showed no dominant-negative effect
(14)
.
UV signature mutations in the p53 gene are already present in benign precursor lesions of squamous cell carcinomas, i.e., actinic keratoses (3) . Whether such a p53 mutation is the very first event or an auxiliary event in the development of a skin carcinoma is still not clear. It was found in humans that chromosomal aberrations are already abundantly present in actinic keratoses, and these aberrations also occur in the absence of any detectable p53 mutation (17) . Surprisingly, these chromosomal aberrations are even more abundant in some actinic keratoses than in the squamous cell carcinomas, which indicates that only a certain subset of the actinic keratoses may progress to squamous cell carcinomas.
UV signature mutations in the p53 gene found in human skin carcinomas are also observed in the majority of experimentally UV-induced squamous cell carcinomas and actinic keratoses in several experimental mouse strains, including hairless mice (12 , 18, 19, 20) . In a first attempt to study the timing of these p53 mutations during skin carcinogenesis, we discovered clusters of epidermal cells, expressing a mutant conformation of p53 protein in the skin of chronically UVB irradiated hairless mice (21) . These "p53-positive foci" also commonly referred to as "p53 patches," arise long before tumors appear and are more abundant in size and number in mice exposed for 30 days than in those exposed for 17 days. p53+ foci were immunohistochemically stained in sections of skin biopsies using Pab240, an antibody specific for p53 in mutant conformation (22, 23, 24, 25) . The epitope of Pab240 is cryptic in wild-type p53, but most mutations in the gene result in a change in the structure of the protein, allowing the antibody to bind specifically to p53 in mutant conformation.
In parallel to these murine data, p53+ foci are found in regularly
sun-exposed normal human skin (4)
. Sequence analysis of
the gene in microdissected foci revealed CT and CCTT transitions
in 50% of the foci analyzed. Again, "UV signature mutations" at
dipyrimidine sites strongly implicate UVB radiation as the cause. In
comparable studies, mutations are detected in up to 80% of the p53+
foci (11
, 26
, 27) . Considering the aforementioned data, it
is quite plausible to assume that p53+ foci are potential onsets of
UV-driven tumor development.
The SKH1 hairless mouse is an established model for studying UV carcinogenesis. Experiments with this animal model under well-defined conditions have yielded reproducible quantitative data on how the development of squamous cell carcinoma depends on dose, time, and wavelength of the UV radiation (28) .
The aim of this study was to measure the kinetics of the induction of p53+ foci by chronic UV exposure in the (SKH1) hairless mouse model and to determine whether the induction of p53+ foci can be quantitatively related to the subsequent induction of skin carcinomas. We wanted to investigate whether the density of p53+ foci in the skin could be a reliable predictor of skin cancer risk. To explore the causality of the relation between the p53+ foci and skin tumors, we also investigated UV-induced p53+ focus formation in transgenic mice that are more susceptible to UVB carcinogenesis. To this end, homozygous Xpa knockout mice (deficient in NER4 ; Refs. 29, 30, 31 ) and heterozygous p53 knockout mice (partially defective in apoptosis; Refs. 3 and 32 ) were chronically exposed to UVB radiation to establish whether the rate of p53+ focus induction parallels the increased rate of tumor formation.
|
MATERIALS AND METHODS |
|---|
|
TopABSTRACTINTRODUCTIONMATERIALS AND METHODSRESULTSDISCUSSIONAppendix 1REFERENCES |
|---|
125
J/m2 from F40 lamps) and received a daily UV dose
of 80 J/m2 from F40 lamps. Nontransgenic mice from the group that received 1 MED/day were sacrificed by ether anesthesia and cervical dislocation at 12, 15, 17, 25, 31, and 40 days and from the group that received 0.5 MED/day at 20, 25, 31, 40, and 59 days (four mice/group/time point). Xpa-/- mice (low MED) were sacrificed after 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 weeks; their littermates at 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 18 weeks. Heterozygous p53 knockout mice (normal MED) and their littermates were sacrificed at days 15 and 20.
Preparation of Epidermal Sheets.
After final irradiation, four mice/time point were sacrificed.
Rectangular parts (size, 40 x 25
mm2) of the dorsal skin were isolated and placed
floating on a 100 µg/ml thermolysin solution (P-1512; Sigma Chemical
Co., St. Louis, MO) in PBS (containing 8.20 g/l NaCl, 3.20 g/l
Na2HPO4·12H2O,
and 0.20 g
NaH2PO4·2H2O/l
distilled water) containing 5 mM
CaCl2 (Merck, 2083, Darmstadt, Germany), pH 7.8.
After overnight incubation at 4°C, each epidermis was rolled on a
polyethylene tube to separate it from the dermis.
Immunohistochemical Staining of Epidermal Sheets.
The epidermal sheets were spread floating on PBS in a Petri dish and
subsequently fixed in PBS buffered 4% formaldehyde solution (Merck,
1.04003; 37%, Z.A.) for 10 min at room temperature. Treated under the
same conditions, the epidermal sheets of unirradiated abdominal skin,
served as negative controls, whereas microscopic sections of
UVB-induced tumors (from other tumor induction experiment) were used as
positive controls for p53 staining. After a brief PBS wash, antigen
retrieval was performed by 5 min boiling in 10 mM citrate
buffer (pH 6.0). The epidermal sheets were washed in polystyrene tubes
filled with 4 ml PBS. Subsequently, endogenous peroxidase was blocked
in methanol, containing 1.5%
H2O2, during a 20-min
incubation in an end-to-end rotor. Sheets were washed three times in a
5-min incubation of PBS, containing 0.5% Tween 20 (polyoxyethylene
sorbitan monolaurate; P-1379; Sigma). Aspecific binding was blocked
with 10% normal rabbit serum and 0.2% BSA in PBS containing 0.1%
saponin for permeabilization.
To stain the p53 protein in mutant conformation, we used the Pab240
antibody (NCL-p53–240; Novocastra, New Castle, United Kingdom). To
affirm the specificity, we showed in earlier experiments that this
antibody does not recognize the wild-type p53 protein, even at high
levels of overexpression after 6 MED of UV from an F40 sunlamp
(21)
. Moreover, the p53 gene was found to be
mutated in exon 8 in 9 of 10 Pab240-positive UV-induced skin tumors: 8
CT transitions at codon 267 and 1 CCTT tandem mutation at 272
(hotspots for UVB radiation).
Pab240 was diluted 1:25 in PBS, containing 5% normal rabbit serum, 0.2% BSA, and 0.1% saponin, and incubated overnight with epidermal sheets at 4°C. Unbound antibody was removed in a triple wash of 5 min in PBS/Tween 0.5%. The secondary antibody, rabbit antimouse (IgG1)-biotin (61-0140, Zymed; San Francisco, CA), diluted 1:50 in PBS, containing 0.2% BSA and 0.1% saponin, was used to incubate the sheet for 1 h at room temperature. Excess of this antibody was removed in a triple wash of 5 min in PBS. The sheets were incubated for 45 min in avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex (ABC complex, K0355; Dakopatts, Copenhagen, Denmark). After a triple wash of 5 min in PBS, the sheets were stained for 3 min in 50 ml of substrate solution, containing 40 mg of 3,3'-diaminobenzidine (D-5905; Sigma) and 100 µl of 30% H2O2. Peroxidase reaction was stopped by a triple wash of 5 min in PBS. The sheets were mounted basal side up in Paragon (7.0% gelatin and 50% glycerol in distilled water).
Scoring of p53+ Foci.
A grid, placed on top of each epidermal sheet preparation, was used to
count p53+ foci in 20 squares (total area, 29.0 x 18.5
mm2), using a light microscope (Pl x25/0.5
objective). Fixation and antigen retrieval caused an area shrinkage of
the epidermal sheet by 25 ± 2 (SD)% (area before
shrinkage was 33.5 x 21.4 mm2). A
p53+ focus was defined as a cluster of at least 10 Pab240-positive
epidermal cells.
The data on the average number of p53+ foci, (NF)
versus time (t, in days) were fitted with the
formula "log(NF) = (slope)
log(t/30) + (intercept)" by error-weighted
least-squares (see Fig. 3
). In this formula, t is divided by
30 days to create a dimensionless argument for the log function. The
displacement in time between the two lines was calculated from the
difference in intercepts divided by the common slope.
|
|
RESULTS |
|---|
|
TopABSTRACTINTRODUCTIONMATERIALS AND METHODSRESULTSDISCUSSIONAppendix 1REFERENCES |
|---|
, but none were found in the abdominal epidermis. These "p53+ foci"
increased in number and size in a time- and dose-dependent way.
Eventually, from day 50 individual foci grew to confluency, limiting
the maximum count to 500 foci/epidermal sheet.
|
10 cells each) in the epidermal
sheets in a grid of 20 squares of 27 mm2. The
p53+ foci were not evenly distributed over the sheet: the spatial
distribution of p53+ foci in a typical example is shown in Fig. 2
for 1 MED/day at 40 days. The distribution seems to follow the geometry
of the dorsal skin in vivo. The central regions contained 40
or more foci, whereas the neck regions showed <3.
|
in a double-log plot against time. The data points for the two groups
appear to line up parallel to each other. We have fitted lines through
these points by the method of weighted least-squares. These lines
represent the yield of p53+ foci in each of the dose groups as a
cumulative Weibull hazard function (36)
. The slopes in the
two dose groups are equal: 3.7 ± 0.6 in the 1 MED/day
group and 3.7 ± 0.7 in the 0.5 MED/day group. The
induction of p53+ foci appears to be slowed down by a factor of
1.49 ± 0.15 by lowering the daily dose by a factor of
2.
Induction Kinetics: p53+ Foci Compared with Tumors.
Fig. 4
depicts the yields of the p53+ foci together with the yields of
subsequent 1-mm squamous cell carcinomas [taken from de Gruijl
et al. (37)
] for 1 and 0.5 MED/day in one
graph. The results on the p53+ foci are obtained from three independent
experiments. The p53+ foci occur earlier and are far more numerous than
tumors, but the relative increase with time is much steeper for the
tumors.
|
As appears to be the case for the p53+ foci, the yield of carcinomas
goes up linearly in a double-log plot against time, as shown in Fig. 4
[i.e., the induction of p53+ foci and carcinomas can be
described by Weibull statistics (37)
: the yield = (t/t1)p,
where t1, p are
constants]. However, the slope (p) for the tumors is 2-fold
larger than for p53+ foci and equals 6.9 ± 0.8.
UV-induced p53+ Foci in Xpa-deficient Mice.
In previous experiments (30)
, we have established that
hairless Xpa-/- mice who are completely deficient in NER
develop UV-induced skin tumors faster than their heterozygous
Xpa+/- and wild-type Xpa+/+, NER-proficient
counterparts. To investigate whether this corresponds with a faster
induction of p53+ foci, we daily irradiated Xpa-/- and
Xpa+/- mice with 80 J/m2 UV from F40
lamps (comparable with 40 J/m2 UV from TL-12; see
"Materials and Methods"). This low UV dose was chosen because
Xpa-/- mice are very UV sensitive (1 MED is 125
J/m2). Xpa-/- mice were sacrificed
after 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 weeks and Xpa+/- mice after 3, 4,
5, 7, 9, 11, and 18 weeks. Average numbers of p53+ foci are presented
in Fig. 5
. At this low UV dose level, p53+ foci could already be detected after 2
weeks in Xpa-/- mice. The number and size increased
rapidly with time; after 7 weeks, the foci were so numerous and large
that distinction between individual foci became difficult. The
Xpa heterozygous mice showed virtually no p53+ foci over the
18-week period at this low level of daily UV exposure; only one focus
was observed at 7 weeks.
|
Heterozygous p53+/- knockout mice have a MED comparable
with wild types. p53+/- and p53+/+ littermates
received 1 MED (500 J/m2 UV from a TL-12 lamp)
or 0.5 MED (250 J/m2 UV from a TL-12 lamp) per
day. After 15 and 20 days of chronic irradiation, epidermal sheets were
isolated and stained with Pab240. p53+ focus scores are plotted in Fig. 6
.
|
, but at 0.5 MED/day, the numbers of p53+
foci seemed to be rather low. These low scores at 15 and 20 days are,
however, very inaccurate: 0.5 ± 0.3 and 1.0 ± 0.7 foci/sheet at days 15 and 20, respectively. |
DISCUSSION |
|---|
|
TopABSTRACTINTRODUCTIONMATERIALS AND METHODSRESULTSDISCUSSIONAppendix 1REFERENCES |
|---|
. This indicates that all cells in such
a p53+ focus expanded clonally from one cell with an altered p53
expression, e.g., caused by a mutation in the p53
gene. Preliminary results obtained by mutation analysis (to be
published elsewhere) confirm that at least 50% of individual foci
contain a mutation in the p53 gene. This is in line with
mutation analysis in human p53+ foci, which appeared to contain
mutations in 50–80% of the cases (4
, 26
, 27)
.
The uneven distribution of p53+ foci over the dorsal skin (Fig. 2)
corresponds closely to the convex shape of the mouse back; the numbers
are found to peak in the optimally exposed mid-dorsal area and drop
steadily toward the flank regions. This is in accordance with the fact
that these flank regions receive less UV irradiation than the
mid-dorsal part.
At the first time point (day 15), we found 9.0 ± 2.1
(SE) foci/mouse at 1 MED/day (Fig. 3)
. To estimate how early the first
p53+ foci were generated, we can extrapolate the yield of foci (Fig. 3)
backward in time; an average of one focus/mouse is then found at day 7.
According our definition, a p53+ focus should contain at least 10
cells, and therefore a minimum of four cell divisions must have taken
place for a clonal expansion to that size. Hence, these p53 alterations
appear to be very early events in UV carcinogenesis. This inference is
in close accordance with experiments (39)
that showed that
specific p53 mutations could be detected by allele-specific
PCR as soon as 1 week after the onset of daily UV exposure mice.
The hairless mouse model has allowed us to investigate the dose-time
dependency of the induction of the p53+ foci and to relate these
results quantitatively to the well-established subsequent induction of
skin carcinomas. The induction of squamous cell carcinomas can be
described appropriately by Weibull statistics (36
, 37)
,
and this also appears to hold for the induction of the p53+ foci.
However, the slopes of the tumor yield curves (Fig. 4)
are about twice
as steep as those of the p53+ foci (6.9 ± 0.8
versus 3.7 ± 0.7). This difference in slopes
can be mathematically attributed to more rate-limiting steps in the
formation of tumors than in the formation of p53+ foci
(36)
. In fact, the similarity in dose dependence and the
2-fold difference in slope implies that the tumor could arise from a
p53+ focus by a second event that follows the same kinetics as the
induction of a p53+ focus (see "Appendix").
The data in Fig. 4
show that lowering the daily exposure by a factor of
2 delays the build-up of p53+ foci and tumors by a similar factor that
is smaller than 2 (1.49 ± 0.15 for the foci and
1.54 ± 0.02 for squamous cell carcinoma). Hence, UV
dose dependencies of p53+ foci and tumors appear to be very similar.
Our data indicate that the density of p53+ foci and the time at which
it was measured are predictive of the tumor risk later. For example, 10
foci/sheet at 20 days (0.5 MED/day) in Fig. 4
leads to an average of
one tumor/mouse around 110 days (5.5 times later). If 52 foci/sheet at
20 days (1 MED/day) were found, then one expects an average of one
tumor/mouse around 75 days. The yield of one tumor/mouse corresponds
with a 63% chance for an individual of having contracted a tumor
[chance = 1 - e-yield (36)
]. Because
we are dealing with stochastic processes, these are, of course, not
deterministic predictions but ones with inherent statistical variation
(dependent on group size, number of observed foci, and others).
Although it has been established that p53+ foci also occur in high
numbers in regularly sun-exposed skin of humans (4)
, it is
not clear whether and how the above calculations can be translated to
the human situation. Measurements on well-chosen groups (with known
skin cancer risks) from populations with different levels of sun
exposure may serve to adjust the parameters of the mouse model to a
human model. A good starting point appears to be that the age
dependency of squamous cell carcinomas in humans is very similar to
that in mice; under roughly similar average UVB exposures (0.3
MED/day), the mice contract their tumors 250 times faster
(40)
. Considering the difference in exposed skin area
(1200 cm2 for face, neck, and back of the
hands, i.e., 170-fold more than for a hairless mouse),
the tumor yield/cm2 of skin in humans needs only
to be 0.006 times of that in mice for a comparable chance for an
individual to contract a squamous cell carcinoma. Correspondingly lower
densities of p53+ foci would be expected in humans. A Swedish study
(41)
on normal skin adjacent to resected nonmelanoma skin
tumors from sun-exposed sites showed that the prevalence of p53+ foci
increased with age; 35% of the microscopic sections taken from people
at ages 55 years contained p53+ foci, 65% at 65 years, and 58% at
75 years. [This corresponds with a slope for the log(yield)
versus log(age) of three to four, in agreement with the
slope of 3.7 that we found for p53+ foci in the mice]. However, the
yield of p53+ foci/cm2 was not measured in this
study, but a crude estimate indicates that the p53+ foci were detected
at an average of 4–40 foci/cm2 at the age 75.
(Section lengths were 1–2 cm, and the size of a typical p53+ focus
varied from 0.2 to 1 mm across, and prevalence per section was 58%;
with a sun-exposed skin area of 1200 cm2, we
found 4,800–48,000 foci/person at 75 years of age; projected into Fig. 4
, this corresponds with a predicted yield of 2–10 squamous cell
carcinomas/individual). According to the present mouse data, this would
correspond with a risk of 90–100% at 75 years for this Swedish
patient population. This appears to be a considerably higher risk than
in the general Swedish population (which is on the order of 0.5% at 75
years of age). A study in the United States (4)
did report
on the number of p53 foci/cm2 (20–50 in
chronically exposed areas) in discarded tissue from cosmetic surgery,
but these data showed no clear age dependency, which may have been
attributable to a selection bias and the small size of the data set. A
prediction of tumor risk from the density of p53+ foci in humans
clearly needs to be validated by proper human data.
If properly validated, measurements on p53+ foci could potentially be used as indicators/surrogates of skin cancer, at least in short-term assays in mice. For more practical purposes like protection of sunscreens against skin cancer, investigators have already started to use the early detection of p53 mutations to this end (42) .
Although after 40 days huge numbers (>100 per cm2 of surface area of skin) of p53+ foci are detected, only a few tumors arise at later time points. Thus, if p53+ foci are potential precursors, it has to be concluded that only a very minor fraction progresses to become tumors. As the chance of progression may simply be low, it may theoretically be just a matter of time before a p53+ focus progresses. The mice may not live long enough for this to happen, and outgrowing tumors may eventually crowd out the p53+ foci. On the other hand, we cannot exclude that not all of the p53+ foci have "tumor precursor potential." Clearly, this issue has to be addressed in further research, e.g., by extensive comparative analyses of p53 mutation spectra in p53+ foci and in tumors from hairless mice (currently in progress in our group).
Our data clearly show quantitative relationships between the p53+ foci and skin tumors in wild-type hairless mice. To establish further the causality of this relationship, we ascertained the p53+ focus induction in transgenic mice that are more susceptible to UV-induced carcinogenesis.
The early detection of p53+ foci in the Xpa-/- mice at a very low level of UV exposure and the virtually complete absence of foci in the Xpa+/- control mice confirms the suspected enhanced induction of p53+ foci through an increased mutagenicity in the DNA repair-deficient background. This is in line with the abundance of p53+ foci found in an 18-year-old xeroderma pigmentosum group C (global genome repair-deficient) patient (43) . Hence, an increased tumor risk in a DNA repair-deficient background corresponds to the early detection of p53+ foci.
Significantly more p53+ foci were found in the p53+/- knockout, compared with wild-type littermates. In this genetic background with diminished DNA repair and apoptotic capacity, an increase in p53+ foci formation again "predicts" tumor proneness. Although the chance of a mutational hit in the p53 gene is less, because one allele is already missing, p53+ focus formation is enhanced and again indicates increased tumor risk.
The induction of p53+ foci appears to be far more strongly enhanced in Xpa-/- mice than in p53+/- mice. This corresponds with the much larger difference in carcinoma induction times between Xpa-/- and Xpa+/- mice (factor 4.2; Ref. 30 ) than between p53+/- and p53+/+ mice (at the most, a factor of 2 at 1 MED/day).5
In conclusion, we can state that the formation of a p53+ focus is a very early event in UVB-induced carcinogenesis. UV dose dependencies of the p53+ foci and carcinomas appear to be very similar. In mice that are more susceptible to UV carcinogenesis, the p53+ foci develop earlier and in increased numbers. This confirms a direct relationship between p53+ foci and the subsequent tumors. Our data show that p53+ foci appear to be good and useful indicators of UV-induced skin carcinoma risk.
|
Appendix 1 |
|---|
|
TopABSTRACTINTRODUCTIONMATERIALS AND METHODSRESULTSDISCUSSIONAppendix 1REFERENCES |
|---|
 | (A1) |
where D stands for the daily UV dose, t for
time; Do,
to, a, and b are
constants; a/b = r = 0.58 ± 0.15=0.6 (by choosing a certain yield,
e.g., Yf = 1 at
t = t1, one
finds that Dr
t1 = constant). The power of
time, b, is found to equal 3.7 ± 0.7, and
for computational convenience, is taken to equal 3.5. If the number of
primary target cells (e.g., germinative basal epidermal
cells) per unit surface area of skin equals N/U, we write
the yield/target cell as:
 | (A2) |
 | (A3) |
To account for the fact that clones of p53+ cells in the first
stage expand, we introduced a net target size (number of cells) per
clone of stage-1 cells, 
. The expected tumor yield per primary
target cell (e.g., basal epidermal cell) then becomes:
 | (A4) |
i.e., a convolution of
yf(t) and
pT(t). Eq. A4 can be solved
simply through Laplace transformation, L [i.e.,
a function of t is transformed into a function of
s, which is the variable in the Laplace domain; importantly,
the Laplace transform of convoluted functions equals multiplication of
the Laplace transforms of the functions, and
L[tx] =
(x + 1)/sx+1, where
(x + 1) denotes the gamma function, which
equals x! for integer values for x
(44)
]. Thus, we find:
 | (A5) |
where L[yf(t)] =
[(b+1)/N]
[D/D0]a
[1/(t0bsb+1)]
and
L[pT(t)] = [b(b)/N]
[D/D0]a
[1/(t0bsb)],
and by applying the inverse Laplace transformation on
1/s2b+1, we solve equation A4:
 | (A6) |
Note that the powers for the UV dose, D, and time, t, in the tumor yield equal 2a and 2b, respectively, i.e., double the values in the yield of p53+ foci. Thus, in the tumor yield the power of time p = 2b =7, which is in agreement with the value of 6.9 ± 0.8 that we found in earlier experiments. Furthermore, we find for the tumors that r = 2a/2b = a/b = 0.6, which implies a similar dose-time relationship for p53+ foci and tumors.
For the tumor yield per unit surface area U, we find:
 | (A7) |
If we take the point in time for which
YT with 1 MED/day reaches the value of
1 per epidermal sheet (Fig. 4)
, we find that the extrapolated value of
Yf reaches a value of 11,000/sheet
of 7.2 cm2. If we assume that all basal epidermal
cells are potential targets and that each basal cell takes up
10 x 10 µm2, we find that
equals an average of about two cells, i.e., a very small
effective target size per p53+ focus. This could either mean that only
a few (stem) cells per p53+ focus are true targets for the second
UV-induced tumorigenic step, or that most of the p53+ foci are not
suitable targets, i.e., not true precursors, which then
lowers the effective number of target cells per p53+ focus. Thus, these
calculations show that the time-dose dependency of the UV-induced skin
tumors can simply be described by two sequential processes, each of
which follows the time-dose dependency of UV-induced p53+ foci.
|
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
|---|
|
FOOTNOTES |
|---|
1 Financed mainly by grant UU97-1531 from the
Dutch Cancer Society. 
2 To whom requests for reprints should be
addressed, at Department of Dermatology, University Medical Center/AZU,
Room G-02.124, P. O. Box 85500, 3508 GA Utrecht, the Netherlands. Fax:
31-30-2505404; E-mail: F.deGruijl{at}digd.azu.nl
3 Internet address: http://www.iarc.fr/p53.
4 The abbreviations used are: NER, nucleotide
excision repair; MED, minimal erythema/edema dose.
5 A. Westerman-de Vries, R. J. W. Berg, C. F.
Kreijl, P. W. Wester, and H. J. van Kranen. Alterations in latency
time, tumor progression and p53 mutation spectrum in
UVB-induced skin tumors of p53-deficient hairless mice,
manuscript in preparation.
Received 5/17/00. Accepted 11/30/00.
|
REFERENCES |
|---|
|
TopABSTRACTINTRODUCTIONMATERIALS AND METHODSRESULTSDISCUSSIONAppendix 1REFERENCES |
|---|
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  D. L. Chao, J. T. Eck, D. E. Brash, C. C. Maley, and E. G. Luebeck Preneoplastic lesion growth driven by the death of adjacent normal stem cells PNAS, September 30, 2008; 105(39): 15034 - 15039. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
D. M. Wiktor-Brown, H.-S. Kwon, Y. S. Nam, P. T. C. So, and B. P. Engelward Integrated one- and two-photon imaging platform reveals clonal expansion as a major driver of mutation load PNAS, July 29, 2008; 105(30): 10314 - 10319. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 Z. Walaszek, M. Hanausek, and T. J. Slaga The Role of Skin Painting in Predicting Lung Cancer International Journal of Toxicology, July 1, 2007; 26(4): 345 - 351. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. G.W. Nijhof, C. van Pelt, A. A. Mulder, D. L. Mitchell, L. H.F. Mullenders, and F. R. de Gruijl Epidermal stem and progenitor cells in murine epidermis accumulate UV damage despite NER proficiency Carcinogenesis, April 1, 2007; 28(4): 792 - 800. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. C. van der Pols, C. Xu, G. M. Boyle, P. G. Parsons, D. C. Whiteman, and A. C. Green Expression of p53 Tumor Suppressor Protein in Sun-exposed Skin and Associations with Sunscreen Use and Time Spent Outdoors: A Community-based Study Am. J. Epidemiol., June 1, 2006; 163(11): 982 - 988. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. Maeda, S. W. Schneider, M. Kojima, S. Beissert, T. Schwarz, and A. Schwarz Enhanced photocarcinogenesis in interleukin-12-deficient mice. Cancer Res., March 15, 2006; 66(6): 2962 - 2969. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. van Schanke, G. M.C.A.L. van Venrooij, M. J. Jongsma, H. A. Banus, L. H.F. Mullenders, H. J. van Kranen, and F. R. de Gruijl Induction of Nevi and Skin Tumors in Ink4a/Arf Xpa Knockout Mice by Neonatal, Intermittent, or Chronic UVB Exposures. Cancer Res., March 1, 2006; 66(5): 2608 - 2615. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
H. Rebel, N. Kram, A. Westerman, S. Banus, H. J. van Kranen, and F. R. de Gruijl Relationship between UV-induced mutant p53 patches and skin tumours, analysed by mutation spectra and by induction kinetics in various DNA-repair-deficient mice Carcinogenesis, December 1, 2005; 26(12): 2123 - 2130. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. Alekseev, H. Kool, H. Rebel, M. Fousteri, J. Moser, C. Backendorf, F. R. de Gruijl, H. Vrieling, and L. H.F. Mullenders Enhanced DDB2 Expression Protects Mice from Carcinogenic Effects of Chronic UV-B Irradiation Cancer Res., November 15, 2005; 65(22): 10298 - 10306. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
Y.-P. Lu, Y.-R. Lou, J. Liao, J.-G. Xie, Q.-Y. Peng, C. S. Yang, and A. H. Conney Administration of green tea or caffeine enhances the disappearance of UVB-induced patches of mutant p53 positive epidermal cells in SKH-1 mice Carcinogenesis, August 1, 2005; 26(8): 1465 - 1472. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
P. Kramata, Y.-P. Lu, Y.-R. Lou, R. N. Singh, S. M. Kwon, and A. H. Conney Patches of Mutant p53-Immunoreactive Epidermal Cells Induced by Chronic UVB Irradiation Harbor the Same p53 Mutations as Squamous Cell Carcinomas in the Skin of Hairless SKH-1 Mice Cancer Res., May 1, 2005; 65(9): 3577 - 3585. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
W. Zhang, A. N. Hanks, K. Boucher, S. R. Florell, S. M. Allen, A. Alexander, D. E. Brash, and D. Grossman UVB-induced apoptosis drives clonal expansion during skin tumor development Carcinogenesis, January 1, 2005; 26(1): 249 - 257. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. Ramos, J. Villa, A. Ruiz, R. Armstrong, and J. Matta UV Dose Determines Key Characteristics of Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev., December 1, 2004; 13(12): 2006 - 2011. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 Y. Matsumura, A. M. Moodycliffe, D. X. Nghiem, S. E. Ullrich, and H. N. Ananthaswamy Resistance of CD1d-/- Mice to Ultraviolet-Induced Skin Cancer Is Associated with Increased Apoptosis Am. J. Pathol., September 1, 2004; 165(3): 879 - 887. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M.-F. Demierre and L. Nathanson Chemoprevention of Melanoma: An Unexplored Strategy J. Clin. Oncol., January 1, 2003; 21(1): 158 - 165. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
W. Zhang, E. Remenyik, D. Zelterman, D. E. Brash, and N. M. Wikonkal Escaping the stem cell compartment: Sustained UVB exposure allows p53-mutant keratinocytes to colonize adjacent epidermal proliferating units without incurring additional mutations PNAS, November 9, 2001; (2001) 241353198. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
G. Ling, A. Persson, B. Berne, M. Uhlen, J. Lundeberg, and F. Ponten Persistent p53 Mutations in Single Cells from Normal Human Skin Am. J. Pathol., October 1, 2001; 159(4): 1247 - 1253. [Abstract] [Full Text]
|
|
|
|
|
|
W. Zhang, E. Remenyik, D. Zelterman, D. E. Brash, and N. M. Wikonkal Escaping the stem cell compartment: Sustained UVB exposure allows p53-mutant keratinocytes to colonize adjacent epidermal proliferating units without incurring additional mutations PNAS, November 20, 2001; 98(24): 13948 - 13953. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| Cancer Research | Clinical Cancer Research |
| Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention | Molecular Cancer Therapeutics |
| Molecular Cancer Research | Cancer Prevention Research |
| Cancer Prevention Journals Portal | Cancer Reviews Online |
| Annual Meeting Education Book | Meeting Abstracts Online |
, 0.5 MED (250 J/m2 TL-12)/day.
) and wild-type p53+/+ littermates (•,
) in the course for daily exposure to 1 MED (
0.02,
Mann-Whitney U test).