Modulated gap junctional intercellular communication as a biomarker of PAH epigenetic toxicity: structure-function relationship.

Cancer is a multistage multimechanism process involving gene and/or chromosomal mutations (genotoxic events), altered gene expression at the transcriptional, translational, and post-translational levels (epigenetic events), and altered cell survival (proliferation and apoptosis or necrosis), resulting in an imbalance of the organism's homeostasis. Maintenance of the organism's homeostasis depends on the intricate coordination of genetic and metabolic events between cells via extracellular and intercellular communication mechanisms. The release of a quiescent cell, whether normal or premalignant, from the suppressing effects of communicating neighbors requires the downregulation of intercellular communication via gap junctions, thereby allowing factors that control intracellular events to exceed a critical mass necessary for the cell to either proliferate or undergo apoptosis. Therefore, determining the role an environmental pollutant must play in the multistage carcinogenic process includes mechanisms of epigenetic toxicity such as the effects of a compound on gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC). A classic example of a class of compounds in which determination of carcinogenicity focused on genotoxic events and ignored epigenetic events is polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The study of structure-activity relationships of PAHs has focused exclusively on the genotoxic and tumor-initiating properties of the compound. We report on the structure-activity relationships of two- to four-ringed PAHs on GJIC in a rat liver epithelial cell line. PAHs containing a bay or baylike region were more potent inhibitors of GJIC than the linear PAHs that do not contain these regions. These are some of the first studies of determine the epigenetic toxicity of PAHs at the epigenetic level.

Bay or baylike regions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were potent inhibitors of Gap junctional intercellular communication.

Many polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are known carcinogens, and a considerable amount of research has been devoted to predicting the tumor-initiating potential of PAHs based on chemical structure. However, there has been little research into the effects of PAHs on the epigenetic events of tumor promotion and no structural correlation has been made thereof. Gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) activity was used in this study as an epigenetic biomarker to determine the structure-activity relationships of twelve different PAHs. The PAHs used were naphthalene, 1-methylnaphthalene, 2-methylnaphthalene, anthracene, 1-methylanthracene, 2-methylanthracene, 9-methylanthracene, 9, 10-dimethylanthracene, phenanthrene, fluorene, 1-methylfluorene, and fluoranthene. Results showed that PAHs containing bay or baylike regions inhibited GJIC more than did the linear PAHs. The nonnaphthalene PAHs were not cytotoxic as determined by a vital dye uptake assay, but the naphthalene compounds were cytotoxic at the higher doses, indicating that the down regulation of GJIC by these naphthalenes could be a consequence of general membrane damage. Inhibition of GJIC by all the inhibitory PAHs was reversed when the cells were refreshed with PAH-free growth medium. Inhibition of GJIC occurred within 0.5-5 min and correlated with the aqueous solubility of the PAHs. The present study revealed that there are structural determinants of epigenetic toxicity as determined by GJIC activity.

The effects of anthracene and methylated anthracenes on gap junctional intercellular communication in rat liver epithelial cells.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), many of which are known carcinogens, are derived from the pyrolysis of organic materials. A rich source of PAHs is cigarette smoke, which contains methylated anthracenes and phenanthrenes as the predominant PAHs. The tumor-promoting activity of cigarette smoke has been well documented. The down-regulation of gap junction intercellular communication (GJIC) by nongenotoxic chemicals and several oncogenes has been implicated in tumor promotion. Therefore, we determined the effects of the three isomers of methylanthracene on GJIC in WB-F344 rat liver epithelial cells. Anthracene and 2-methylanthracene did not significantly inhibit GJIC, whereas anthracene methylated in the 1 or 9 position reversibly inhibited GJIC with I50 values of 22 and 36 microM, respectively. Inhibition occurred within 15 min. In conclusion, the biological effect of methylanthracene depends on the ring position of the methyl group, and these inhibitory isomers could play a potential role in tumor promotion of methylated PAH-rich mixtures such as cigarette smoke and crude oil products.