Risk assessment of low-level chemical exposures from consumer products under the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission chronic hazard guidelines.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is an independent regulatory agency that was created in 1973. The CPSC has jurisdiction over more the 15,000 types of consumer products used in and around the home or by children, except items such as food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, pesticides, certain radioactive materials, products that emit radiation (e.g., microwave ovens), and automobiles. The CPSC has investigated many low-level exposures from consumer products, including formaldehyde emissions from urea-formaldehyde foam insulation and pressed wood products, CO and NO2 emmissions from combustion appliances, and dioxin in paper products. Many chemical hazards are addressed under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (FHSA), which applies to acute and chronic health effects resulting from high- or low-level exposures. In 1992 the Commission issued guidelines for assessing chronic hazards under the FHSA, including carcinogenicity, neurotoxicity, reproductive/developmental toxicity, exposure, bioavailability, risk assessment, and acceptable risk. The chronic hazard guidelines describe a series of default assumptions, which are used in the absence of evidence to the contrary. However, the guidelines are intended to be sufficiently flexible to incorporate the latest scientific information. The use of alternative procedures is permissible, on a case-by-case basis, provided that the procedures used are scientifically defensible and supported by appropriate data. The application of the chronic hazard guidelines in assessing the risks from low-level exposures is discussed.

Synergistic killing of virus-transformed human cells with interferon and N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine.

Interferons potentiate the cytotoxic effects of certain antineoplastic drugs on human tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo, although the mechanism of interferon's synergistic action is unknown. Interferon may act by modulating the expression of DNA repair activity in cells. To test this hypothesis, we maintained parallel cultures of normal O6-methylguanine repair-proficient human fibroblasts and tumor cells, or RSV-and SV40-transformed repair-deficient Mer- human fibroblasts in medium containing 0, 100, 500 or 680 U/ml human interferon alpha or beta; after 1-10 weeks, cultures were challenged with N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG, CAS: 70-25-7) and assayed for colony-forming ability. Based on the dose at 99% lethality, MNNG cytotoxicity was potentiated from 1.3- to 9-fold in interferon-treated cultures, compared with control cultures (no interferon). A significant potentiation was observed both with Mer+ normal fibroblasts (KD strain) and tumor cells (HOS) and with Mer- SV40-transformed fibroblasts (IMR90-830 and GM638) as well as with RSV-transformed cells (RHOS). However, the degree of potentiation was greater in Mer- virus-transformed cells than in Mer+ cells. The greatest effects were observed with Mer- IMR90-830 cells (5- to 9-fold reduction of dose at 99% lethality). Therefore, because the Mer+ phenotype is not required in order for HuIFNs to sensitize cells to killing by MNNG, interferon does not act by modulating O6-methylguanine repair. However, the effect of interferon on O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase levels and on DNA excision repair should be examined in future experiments.

Potentiation of cytotoxicity by 3-aminobenzamide in DNA repair-deficient human tumor cell lines following exposure to methylating agents or anti-neoplastic drugs.

We studied the potentiation by 3-aminobenzamide (3AB) of killing of nine human cell lines exposed to alkylating agents. Cell lines included normal, transformed and DNA repair-proficient and -deficient phenotypes. 3AB potentiated cell killing by the methylating agents methylmethanesulfonate (MMS) and N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) in all lines tested. The degree of potentiation ranged from 1.7- to 3.8-fold, based on the LD99. The average potentiation observed with MMS (2.7-fold) was greater than with MNNG (2.2-fold). On average the potentiation of MMS and MNNG killing of repair-deficient Mer- lines (2.4-fold) was similar to that of repair-proficient Mer+ lines. The degree of 3AB potentiation of MNNG killing (2.0-fold) was similar in Mer+ Rem- lines and in Mer+ Rem+ lines. Mer+ Rem+, Mer+ Rem-, Mer- Rem+, and Mer- Rem- strains all appeared proficient in a 3AB-sensitive DNA repair pathway. Within experimental error, 20 mM 3AB did not inhibit the removal of the MNNG-induced methylpurines 7-methylguanine, O6-methylguanine and 3-methyladenine from the DNA of repair-proficient Mer+ Rem+ HT29 cells, consistent with evidence that 3AB inhibits the ligation step of excision repair. 3AB potentiated cell killing by the bifunctional alkylating agents 1-(2-chlorethyl)-1-nitrosourea or busulfan, two anti-neoplastic drugs, by only 0.9- to 1.5-fold. These drugs therefore produce DNA damage which is not efficiently repaired by the pathways that repair methylated bases.

Exogenous O6-methylguanine inhibits adduct removal and sensitizes human cells to killing by the chemical carcinogen N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine.

We partially depleted the O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase activity in four O6-methylguanine (O6-mGua) repair-proficient (Mer+) human cell strains with exogenous O6-mGua (2 mM for 3 h, a non-toxic regimen) and then challenged them with N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG). MT-partially depleted HT29 cells removed O6-mGua from DNA at about half the rate of control cells, while removal of 3-methyladenine was unaffected. In spite of partial depletion of MT, however, cell killing by MNNG in a colony-forming assay with HT29, A549, A498 or KD cells was not greatly affected. (This is in contrast to the dramatic potentiation of CNU cytotoxicity observed previously.) In an attempt to sensitize Mer+ strains to killing by MNNG, we treated cells with O6-mGua following MNNG exposure (0.4 mM for 4 days), in addition to the pre-MNNG treatment of 2 mM O6-mGua for 3 h. This sensitized KD and HT29 cells 2-fold to killing by MNNG, based on the dose at 10% survival, but did not sensitive Mer- A1336. However, post-treatment alone was as effective as combined pre- and post-treatment in sensitizing KD cells to killing. Thus, when the O6-mGua post-treatment was begun, greater than 50% of O6-mGua was already removed from cell DNA. Our findings may be accounted for by at least two schemes, one in which nonlethal O6-mGua are removed from DNA rapidly, while potentially lethal O6-mGua are repaired later. The other scheme proposes that exogenous O6-mGua increases the lethality of a non-O6-mGua lesion by reducing its repair both in Mer+ and Mer- cells. Both schemes are consistent with the hypothesis that O6-mGua may be a lethal DNA lesion in human cells.

The role of O6-methylguanine in human cell killing, sister chromatid exchange induction and mutagenesis: a review.

O6-methylguanine (O6mG) produced in DNA by such SN1 methylating agents as N-methyl-N-nitrosourea and N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) has been suggested by some to be the lesion that leads to certain biological endpoints in mammalian cells: cell killing, sister chromatid exchange (SCE) production, mutagenesis and cellular transformation. Other evidence is interpreted as inconsistent with this point of view. The finding of Karran & Williams (1985) that O6mG delivered to cells in culture resulted in the depletion of the activity of the protein responsible for repair of O6mG in DNA (O6mG-DNA methyltransferase, O6MT) provided a tool for the assessment of the role of O6mG in producing biological endpoints. In this paper we review much of the literature on human cells pertinent to this question. In addition we present our survival data obtained using the depletion technique of Karran & Williams as well as data supporting a model invoking a mismatch and excision response to O6mG proposed by Sklar & Strauss (1980). Although data linking O6mG to causation are inconclusive, it is premature to conclude that O6mG is not a lesion lethal to certain cultured cells.

Inactivation of O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase and sensitization of human tumor cells to killing by chloroethylnitrosourea by O6-methylguanine as a free base.

Human fibroblasts and tumor cells with constitutive levels of the DNA repair protein O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase were incubated with mM concentrations of the free base O6-methylguanine for up to 24 h. This treatment depleted the cells of their transferase activity, and sensitized the cells to killing by the antineoplastic drug 1-[2-chloroethyl]-1-nitrosourea. Cells constitutively lacking the methyltransferase were not sensitized to cell killing. Cell free extracts incubated with O6-methylguanine also lost methyltransferase activity. Other alkylpurines, such as O6-methylguanosine, S6-methylthioguanine, O6-ethylguanine, and 3-methyladenine, did not have this effect on extracts of human tumor cells, while O6-methylguanosine and O6-methylguanine inactivated purified methyltransferase from Escherichia coli. The data suggest that the free base O6-methylguanine is probably a substrate for the methyltransferase. Calculation of the second order rate constants for free base versus O6-methylguanine in DNA, and experiments in which the free base was mixed with DNA containing O6-methylguanine before reaction with methyltransferase, indicated that the base in DNA is about 4 X 10(7) better as a substrate than is the free base. These results demonstrate that DNA repair capacity of tumor cells can be diminished without DNA damage, and suggest a method for increasing the efficiency of chemotherapy.

Diffusion of a small molecule in the cytoplasm of mammalian cells.

Electron spin resonance was used to measure the diffusion of a small (Mr 170) spin label in the aqueous cytoplasm of mammalian cells. Translational and rotational motion were determined from the same spectra. Based on measurements made in model systems, it was hypothesized that calculations of the apparent viscosity from either rotational or translational motion would distinguish between the effects of cytoplasmic viscosity or cytoplasmic structure on diffusion. The diffusion coefficient calculated from spin label collision frequency, averaged 3.3 X 10(-6) cm2/sec in several cell lines. It was greater in growing cells and in cells treated with cytochalasin B than in quiescent cells. The viscosity of the cytoplasm calculated from the translational diffusion coefficient or the rotational correlation time was 2.0-3.0 centipoise (1 P = 0.1 Pa X sec), about 2-3 times that of the spin label in water. Therefore, over the dimensions measured by the technique, 50-100 A, solvent viscosity appears to be the major determinant of particle movement in cells under physiological conditions. However, when cells were subjected to hypertonic conditions, the translational motion decreased by 67%, while the rotational motion changed less than 20%. These data suggested that the decrease in cell volume under hypertonic conditions was accompanied by an increase in cytoplasmic barriers and a decrease in the spacing between existing components. In addition, a comparison of reported values for diffusion of a variety of molecules in water and in cells indicates that cytoplasmic structure plays an important role in the diffusion of proteins such as bovine serum albumin.

Further evidence that ultraviolet radiation-enhanced reactivation of simian virus 40 in monkey kidney cells is not accompanied by mutagenesis.

Can simian virus 40 (SV40) be used to detect mutagenic DNA repair in cultured mammalian cells? The published evidence from different laboratories are in direct conflict. In order to decide between the conflicting evidence, we conducted experiments in two separate laboratories using experimental protocols similar to those previously used to investigate mutagenic repair with viral probes. Mutagenesis in SV40 virus stocks obtained by infecting ultraviolet (UV)-irradiated or unirradiated CV-1 monkey kidney cells with UV-irradiated or unirradiated temperature-sensitive SV40 mutant tsB201 was investigated. The frequency of reversion of the ts mutant to phenotypically wild-type virus was determined by assaying the virus stocks at permissive (33 degrees) and non-permissive (39 degrees) temperatures. These data show that (a) the reversion frequency for unirradiated virus propagated in irradiated cells was more than that in unirradiated cells; (b) irradiated virus gave more reversion than unirradiated virus in unirradiated and irradiated cells; and (c) irradiated virus had a lower reversion frequency in irradiated cells than in unirradiated cells. Reactivation experiments carried out in parallel; with the mutagenesis showed enhanced reactivation in UV-irradiated SV40 in UV-irradiated CV-1 cells. We conclude that enhanced reactivation of UV-irradiated SV40 was not mutagenic in monkey kidney cells.