Pyrimidine base damage is increased in women with BRCA mutations.

Oxidatively-induced DNA damage was measured in the DNA of WBC from two groups of women: carriers of a BRCA mutation, but asymptomatic for disease, and healthy controls. Two oxidatively induced lesions were measured: a formamide remnant of pyrimidine base and the glycol modification of thymine. These lesions, employed previously in studies of the effects of smoking, antioxidant usage and ovarian cancer, are proving valuable indicators of oxidative stress. The BRCA carriers of mutations, with no overt sign of cancer, nevertheless had significantly higher levels of DNA damage than the controls. The level measured for the formamide lesion was 5.9 ± 1.0 (femtomoles/µg of DNA ± SEM) compared with 2.4 ± 0.3 in controls. The level of the glycol lesion was 2.9 ± 0.4 compared with 1.8 ± 0.2 in controls. The experimental design utilized DNA from WBC and employed LC-MS/MS to detect the lesions.

Covalently linked tandem lesions in DNA.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) generate a type of DNA damage called tandem lesions, two adjacent nucleotides both modified. A subcategory of tandem lesions consists of adjacent nucleotides linked by a covalent bond. Covalently linked tandem lesions generate highly characteristic liquid chromotography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) elution profiles. We have used this property to comprehensively survey X-irradiated DNA for covalently linked tandem lesions. A total of 15 tandem lesions were detected in DNA irradiated in deoxygenated aqueous solution, five tandem lesions were detected in DNA that was irradiated in oxygenated solution.

Profiling oxidative DNA damage: effects of antioxidants.

The goal of this research was to determine whether antioxidant usage could be correlated with changes in DNA damage levels. Liquid Chromatography-tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was used to simultaneously measure five different oxidatively-induced base modifications in the DNA of WBC. Measurements of the five modifications were made before and after an 8-week trial during which participants took the SU.VI.MAX supplement. Levels of the five DNA modifications were compared among different groupings: users versus non-users of antioxidant supplements, before versus after the supplement intervention and men versus women. The statistical significance of differences between groups was most significant for pyrimidine base modifications and the observed trends reflect trends reported in epidemiological studies of antioxidant usage. A combination of modifications derived from pyrimidine bases is suggested as a superior indicator of oxidative stress.

Reduction in oxidatively generated DNA damage following smoking cessation.

BACKGROUND: Cigarette smoking is a known cause of cancer, and cancer may be in part due to effects of oxidative stress. However, whether smoking cessation reverses oxidatively induced DNA damage unclear. The current study sought to examine the extent to which three DNA lesions showed significant reductions after participants quit smoking. METHODS: Participants (n = 19) in this study were recruited from an ongoing 16-week smoking cessation clinical trial and provided blood samples from which leukocyte DNA was extracted and assessed for 3 DNA lesions (thymine glycol modification [d(TgpA)]; formamide breakdown of pyrimidine bases [d(TgpA)]; 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine [d(Gh)]) via liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Change in lesions over time was assessed using generalized estimating equations, controlling for gender, age, and treatment condition. RESULTS: Overall time effects for the d(TgpA) (χ2(3) = 8.068, p < 0.045), d(PfpA) (χ2(3) = 8.477, p < 0.037), and d(Gh) (χ2(3) = 37.599, p < 0.001) lesions were seen, indicating levels of each decreased significantly after CO-confirmed smoking cessation. The d(TgpA) and d(PfpA) lesions show relatively greater rebound at Week 16 compared to the d(Gh) lesion (88% of baseline for d(TgpA), 64% of baseline for d(PfpA), vs 46% of baseline for d(Gh)). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, results from this analysis suggest that cigarette smoking contributes to oxidatively induced DNA damage, and that smoking cessation appears to reduce levels of specific damage markers between 30-50 percent in the short term. Future research may shed light on the broader array of oxidative damage influenced by smoking and over longer durations of abstinence, to provide further insights into mechanisms underlying carcinogenesis.

The 1-carbamoyl-2-oxo-4,5-dihydroxyimidazolidine component of ROS-induced DNA damage in white blood cells.

The 1-carbamoyl-2-oxo-4,5-dihydroxyimidazolidine modification of cytosine is a known base modification produced in vitro by oxidative stress. However, the presence of this modification in vivo has not been established. In this study the introduction of this base modification into dinucleoside monophosphates was accomplished using the Fenton reaction. Subsequently, the modification was produced in short isotopically labeled oligomers. Labeled tetramers bearing the lesion were used as internal standards for LC-MS/MS determinations of the base modification in the DNA of white blood cells from healthy donors. The background level of the 1-carbamoyl-2-oxo-4,5-dihydroxyimidazolidine modification of cytosine was found to be larger than the levels of the formamide and thymine glycol base modifications.

Assessment of DNA damage at the dimer level: measurement of the formamide lesion.

UVC-radiation-induced DNA damage was measured in mouse fibroblast cells using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) in conjunction with isotopically labeled internal standards. The thymine glycol and formamide lesions were assayed in the form of modified dinucleoside monophosphates. The 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine lesion was measured as the modified nucleoside. DNA damage in cells treated with tirapazamine was also measured. Tirapazamine is a chemotherapeutic agent that acts via a free radical mechanism. The two agents, UVC radiation and tirapazamine, produce markedly different profiles of DNA damage, reflecting their respective mechanisms of action. Both agents produce significant amounts of thymine glycol and formamide damage, but only the former produced a measurable amount of the 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine lesion. The merits of measuring DNA damage at the dimer level are discussed.

Measurement of DNA adducts in cells exposed to cisplatin.

The two main cisplatin-induced DNA lesions, G--G and A--G, have been measured in cells exposed to the drug. (G--G and A--G denote the intrastrand bifunctional adducts formed between adjacent purine bases.) It has proven feasible, using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), observe the G--G and A--G lesions in mouse fibroblast cells exposed for 1 h to a 120 microM concentration of cisplatin. After extraction of the DNA from the cells, the lesions were enzymatically isolated from the DNA in the form of modified dinucleoside monophosphates with the phosphodiester bond intact. MS/MS detection of the modified dinucleoside monophosphates in the negative ion mode manifests two transitions; from the negative ion to the loss of one NH(3) group and from the ion less one NH(3) group to the loss of both NH(3) groups. The multiple reaction monitoring capability of LC-MS/MS was used to measure the three most abundant isotopes of the two main lesions for both transitions of each lesion (i.e., 12 MS/MS values in toto). Ion currents could be detected for all 12 pairs of MS/MS values in the DNA from exposed cells. Although this protocol results in some overlap of MS/MS values between the two lesions, a slight difference in elution times clearly distinguishes between them.

Detection and characterization of formamido lesions in DNA by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

DNA X-irradiated in oxygenated aqueous solution produces the formamido lesion from the breakdown of pyrimidine nucleosides. This pyrimidine breakdown product inhibits the hydrolysis by nuclease P1 of the phosphoester bond 3' to the damaged nucleoside. Consequently, the lesion can be obtained from an enzymatic digest of the DNA as a modified dinucleoside monophosphate in which the 5' nucleoside contains the lesion. In this form, the formamido lesion can be detected with good sensitivity by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Nucleosides that have lost the base moiety also inhibit nuclease P1. Together, the formamido and abasic lesions account for all of the substantial peaks in the LC-MS ion current profile.