Mechanisms regulating the cadmium-mediated suppression of Sp1 transcription factor activity in alveolar epithelial cells.

This study demonstrates that in vitro exposure of adult rat alveolar epithelial cells to CdCl(2) decreases DNA binding activity of specificity protein 1 (Sp1), a zinc-finger transcription factor known to play a key role in eukaryotic gene expression, maintenance of homeostasis, cell cycle control, terminal differentiation, and apoptosis. Suppression of Sp1 function, as assessed by electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSAs), is dependent upon cadmium (Cd) dose and duration of exposure. A 45% decrease of Sp1 activity occurs as early as 30 min after Cd addition. By 2 h, Sp1 activity is reduced even further with no loss of cell viability, suggesting that Sp1 inactivation precedes cell death. If Cd is removed from cultures during these early periods of exposure, inhibition of Sp1 binding activity is reversed. Sp1 inactivation does not appear to be a generalized, non-selective response to Cd as other transcription factors are up-regulated under the same conditions. Phosphorylation is involved in Sp1 down-regulation, as evidenced by the finding that alkaline phosphatase treatment of nuclear extracts from cells exposed to Cd for 2 h helps restore Sp1 binding activity. A broad spectrum Protein Kinase C (PKC) inhibitor, GF109203X, substantially reduces the Cd-mediated effect on Sp1 suggesting that a member of the PKC family is required for Sp1 phosphorylation. More prolonged Cd exposure promotes Sp1 degradation with the appearance of cleavage products (40 and 50 kDa), as detected by Western blotting. Changes in the integrity of the Sp1 protein are accompanied by a corresponding decline in cell survival. Cd-induced cell death is substantially attenuated if cells are pretreated with antagonists of PKC activity which implies that a PKC isoform is also a participant in this process.

Cadmium exposure down-regulates 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase expression in rat lung and alveolar epithelial cells.

The current study tested the hypothesis that the pulmonary carcinogenic potential of cadmium (Cd) is related to its ability to inhibit the expression (mRNA and protein) and activity of 8-oxoguanine-DNA glycosylase (OGG1), a base excision repair (BER) enzyme that functions to preferentially excise pre-mutagenic 7,8-dihydro-8-oxoguanine (8-oxoG) from DNA. We demonstrate that a single Cd aerosol exposure of adult male Lewis rats causes time- and dose-dependent down-regulation in the pulmonary levels of rOGG1 mRNA and OGG1 protein, quantified by real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays and western analyses, respectively. Immunohistochemical studies confirmed that Cd inhalation reduces the relative amount of OGG1 in lungs of exposed animals without altering its over-all distribution within the lung, which appears to be more prominent within the alveolar epithelium. In agreement with our in vivo studies, we show that OGG1 expression is also attenuated in alveolar epithelial cell cultures exposed to CdCl(2) either acutely or by repeated passaging in Cd-containing medium. The effects caused by Cd were observed in cells that show no loss in viability, as assessed by colony forming ability, the MTT assay, and propidium iodide membrane permeability studies. Nuclear extracts prepared from Cd-treated cells also exhibit a reduction in the ability to nick a synthetic oligonucleotide containing 8-oxoG. We conclude from these studies that Cd causes suppression of OGG1 in the lung and that this mechanism may, in part, play a role in the Cd carcinogenic process.