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Carcinogenesis |
Laboratory of Radiobiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115 [H. N., J. B. L.], and Department of Radiation Oncology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10021 [A. C., R. K., Z. F.]
| ABSTRACT |
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particles, fluences whereby only 13% of the cell nuclei are traversed by a particle, genetic effects, including specific gene mutations and sister chromatid exchanges, are induced in neighboring, nonirradiated ("bystander") cells (H. Nagasawa and J. B. Little, Cancer Res., 52: 63946396, 1992; H. Nagasawa and J. B. Little, Radiat. Res., 152: 552557, 1999). The present experiments were designed to determine whether signaling pathways arising in the cell membrane may mediate this effect. Cells were irradiated in the presence of Filipin, an agent that disrupts lipid rafts, effectively inhibiting membrane signaling, and the induction of sister chromatid exchange and HPRT mutations by very low fluences of
particles (mean doses 0.170.5 cGy) was measured. Filipin completely suppressed the induction of both genetic effects in bystander cells. After exposure to 10 cGy, when most mutations occurred in directly irradiated cells, no suppressive effect of Filipin was observed. These results suggest that membrane signaling may play an important role in the bystander effect of radiation. On the other hand, the effects in directly irradiated cells do not appear to be mediated via the cell membrane. | INTRODUCTION |
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particles, fluences by which only
1% of the cell nuclei was traversed by a single
particle, as many as 2040% of the cells in the population showed increased frequencies of SCEs (1)
. The occurrence of such genetic changes in neighboring, nonirradiated cells has been termed the "bystander effect." This finding was confirmed subsequently (2)
, and evidence has since been presented for the occurrence of multiple effects in bystander cells, including mutations (3
, 4)
, malignant transformation (5)
, and changes in gene expression (6)
. It has also been reported in medium transfer experiments that extracellular factors released by irradiated cells can produce genetic changes in nonirradiated cells (7
, 8)
. Despite the observations that multiple genetic changes may occur in bystander cells, very little is known about the nature of the signal or its target(s) in these nonirradiated cells. Evidence has been presented for the involvement of gap junctions in the transmission of the signal between irradiated and nonirradiated cells in a monolayer population (4 , 6 , 9) , although this would obviously not apply in the medium transfer experiments. Evidence has also been presented for the involvement of oxidative stress in the phenomenon (10) , and we have found that up-regulation of proteins in the MAPK pathways occurs in bystander cells.4 Activation of MAPK takes place in the cell membrane; this could occur as a result of oxidative stress in the bystander cells or as a direct consequence of the interaction of bystander signals with the cell membrane.
Several lines of evidence have suggested that signaling via some cell surface receptors involves receptor aggregation and clustering in membrane structures known as GEMs or rafts. GEMs are composed of glycosphingolipids, sphingomyelin, cholesterol, and specific membrane proteins (11 , 12) , and raft assembly has been implicated in membrane sorting in polarized cells (13 , 14) , endocytosis (15 , 16) , cholesterol trafficking, and signal transduction from cell surface receptors (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23) . It has been suggested that these specialized lipid microdomains provide a milieu for spatial segregation of specific sets of proteins and enhance the efficacy and specificity of interactions between enzymes involved in signal transduction. Disruption of rafts with cholesterol-depleting agents, such as Methyl-ß-cyclodextrin, Filipin and Nystatin, has been shown to abrogate signaling through this compartment in a variety of distinct cell types (24, 25, 26, 27) .
The present experiments were designed to examine whether cell membrane signaling via GEM is involved in the induction of SCE and gene mutations in bystander cells. We used Filipin, a macrolide polyene antibiotic (28
, 29)
, to disrupt the cholesterol-rich rafts. Induction of SCE and HPRT mutations was examined in monolayer cultures of CHO cells irradiated with very low fluence of
particles in the presence or absence of Filipin. Filipin completely inhibited the induction of both genetic effects in bystander cells, suggesting a role for the cell membrane in the signaling of the bystander effect.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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105
cells from stock cultures were seeded on 1.5-µm-thick Mylar-based dishes coated with fibronectin to facilitate attachment. When the cell density reached
30% confluence, the culture medium was removed and replaced with isoleucine-deficient MEM containing 5% of 3 x dialyzed serum to facilitate synchronization of the cells in the G1 phase of the cell cycle (30)
. These cultures were then incubated at 37°C until they reached either 80% confluence or full confluence, when the cells were irradiated.
Irradiation and Filipin Treatment.
For
particle irradiation, the Mylar dishes were placed over a Mylar window in the exposure well of a specially constructed irradiator providing a uniform source of well-characterized 3.7 MeV
particles as described previously (3
, 31)
. Filipin was obtained from Sigma Chemical Co., suspended in HBS, and maintained in solution at -20°C. One h before irradiation, the growth medium was removed and replaced with either HBS or fresh growth medium with 10% serum containing 0, 0.5, or 1 mg/ml Filipin. Cells were maintained in this medium until 15 min after irradiation, when the cells were subcultured in complete MEM; this medium contained 10-5 M bromodeoxyuridine for measurement of SCE.
Measurement of SCE.
The subcultured cells in 10-5 M bromodeoxyuridine were cultured at 37°C for two rounds of cell replication. Colcemid (0.2 mg/ml) was added to the culture for 4 h before fixation. After drying in air, the differential staining of SCE was carried out by the fluorescence plus Giemsa technique (32)
. The number of SCEs was scored in 50 cells for each data point in each of four experiments. The data are presented as the mean number of SCE per chromosome, based on a modal chromosome number of 21.
Measurement of HPRT Mutations.
For each treatment group, the cells in 2550 separate Mylar dishes were suspended by trypsinization 15 min after
particle irradiation and transferred to a similar number of P-100 plastic Petri dishes containing normal, nonselective medium. The cells were cultured for 810 days to allow for phenotypic expression as previously described (3)
. The cells from each dish were then seeded in 10 new P-100 plastic Petri dishes as a density of 2 x 105
cells and cultured in complete medium containing 6-thioguanine (5 µg/ml) for 1012 days. HPRT mutant colonies were thus scored in a total of 250500 dishes for each of the nine treatment/dose groups. Mutation frequencies were calculated based on the number of mutant colonies scored and the cloning efficiency at the time of seeding in selective medium.
| RESULTS |
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particles (0, 0.17, or 0.5 cGy) and incubated with three concentrations of Filipin (0, 0.5, or 1 µg/ml). Two experiments were carried out in confluent cultures and two in 80% confluent cultures, and the cells were incubated with Filipin either in HBS or in complete medium with 10% bovine serum. As the results in each experiment were similar, the data are combined in Table 1
particle. On the other hand, no increase occurred in the cultures incubated with either concentration of Filipin.
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particles. As can be seen, the two data points from the present experiment lie exactly on this line, indicating the consistency between the results of the previous study and the present one. It is evident from both Fig. 1
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particle. The results in Fig. 2
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radiation are shown in Table 2
particles with the cell nucleus.
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| DISCUSSION |
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particle irradiation of either 20% of the nuclei or of the cytoplasm have been reported by Zhou et al. (4)
with a different mutation assay. Our studies of mutational spectra indicate that >90% of the mutations induced in bystander cells are point mutations, whereas those induced in directly irradiated cells are primarily a result of total and partial gene deletions (33)
, indicating that mutations in bystander cells arise by a different mechanism.
SCE also appeared to result primarily from point mutations (34)
. Thus, they are inefficiently induced by ionizing radiation as compared, e.g., with cross-linking agents or UV light, which induces primarily single base changes (pyrimidine dimers and 6:4 photoproducts; Ref. 34
). In reality, the frequency of SCE induced by
radiation peaks at the dose of
24 cGy and then falls off (35)
. This would be consistent with the hypothesis that SCE induced by
particle irradiation occurs largely in bystander cells. The induction of SCE in bystander cells was inhibited completely by incubation with Filipin (Figs. 1
and 2
), suggesting the involvement of signals arising in the cell membrane in the effect. This conclusion is supported by the results shown in Table 2
; the induction of mutations in bystander cells was also suppressed completely by incubation with Filipin.
Membrane signaling has been implicated in the apoptotic response to ionizing radiation in several but not all cell types (36, 37, 38) . This effect is mediated by the Sphingomyelin pathway and involves sphingomyelinase activation and generation of the second messenger ceramide (27 , 36 , 37) . Recent studies have shown that multimerization of Fas in caps is mandatory to initiate apoptotic signaling and that capping depends specifically on acid sphingomyelinase-derived ceramide generation (27) . Disruption of rafts by the cholesterol-depleting agent Filipin prevented both Fas capping and apoptosis. The present studies are consistent with a GEM model, although evidence for involvement of the sphingomyelin pathway is not provided.
To our knowledge, such a membrane-based signaling mechanism has not heretofore been implicated in the induction of genetic changes, such as SCE and gene mutations. The results in Table 2
suggest, however, that membrane signaling is restricted to the induction of mutations occurring in bystander cells. When cells were irradiated with a high fluence of
particles such that most of the mutations occurred in directly irradiated cells, membrane signaling did not appear to be involved as evidenced by the lack of a suppressive effect of Filipin. The involvement of membrane signaling in bystander cells is of interest in light of the observation that the ATM-dependent up-regulation of the p53 damage response pathway in bystander cells appears to involve signals transmitted through gap junctions (9)
. It has been reported that lipid raft structures in the membrane may play a role in gap junction-mediated intercellular communication.
The mechanisms by which signals that arise from irradiated cells may be transmitted to nonirradiated cells leading to genetic changes are likely varied and complex. For some end points, such as apoptosis, signals may apparently be transmitted through the culture medium (7 , 8) . The present results, however, provide evidence for a role of the cell membrane in the signaling pathways leading to genetic changes in bystander cells.
| FOOTNOTES |
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1 Supported by Research Grant FG02-98ER62685 from the United States Department of Energy and Center Grant ES00002 from the NIH. ![]()
2 To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115. Phone: (617) 432-1184; Fax: (617) 432-0107; E-mail: jlittle{at}hsph.harvard.edu ![]()
3 The abbreviations used are: CHO, Chinese hamster ovary; MAPK, mitogen-activated protein kinase; SCE, sister chromatid exchange; HPRT, hypozanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase; GEM, glycosphingolipid-enriched microdomain; HBS, Hepes buffered saline. ![]()
4 E. I. Azzam, S. M. de Toledo, and J. B. Little, unpublished data. ![]()
5 E. I. Azzam, S. M. de Toledo, D. R. Spitz, and J. B. Little. Oxidative metabolism modulates signal transduction and micronucleus formation in bystander cells from
-particle irradiated normal human fibroblast cultures, manuscript in preparation. ![]()
Received 1/10/02. Accepted 2/27/02.
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