Aristolochic acid (AA) causes aristolochic acid nephropathy, Balkan endemic nephropathy, and their urothelial malignancies. To identify enzymes involved in the metabolism of aristolochic acid I (AAI), the major toxic component of AA we used HRN (hepatic cytochrome P450 [Cyp] reductase null) mice, in which NADPH:Cyp oxidoreductase (Por) is deleted in hepatocytes. AAI was demethylated by hepatic Cyps in vitro to 8-hydroxy-aristolochic acid I (AAIa), indicating that less AAI is distributed to extrahepatic organs in wild-type (WT) mice. Indeed, AAI-DNA-adduct levels were significantly higher in organs of HRN mice, having low hepatic AAI demethylation capacity, than in WT mice. Absence of AAI demethylation in HRN mouse liver was confirmed in vitro; hepatic microsomes from WT, but not from HRN mice, oxidized AAI to AAIa. To define the role of hepatic Cyps in AAI demethylation, modulation of AAIa formation by CYP inducers was investigated. We conclude that AAI demethylation is attributable mainly to Cyp1a1/2. The higher AAI-DNA adduct levels in HRN than WT mice were the result of the lack of hepatic AAI demethylation concomitant with a higher activity of cytosolic NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase (Nqo1), which activates AAI. Mouse hepatic Cyp1a1/2 also activated AAI to DNA adducts under hypoxic conditions in vitro, but in renal microsomes, Por and Cyp3a are more important than Cyp1a for AAI-DNA adduct formation. We propose that AAI activation and detoxication in mice are dictated mainly by AAI binding affinity to Cyp1a1/2 or Nqo1, by their turnover, and by the balance between oxidation and reduction of AAI by Cyp1a.

In previous studies we had administered benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) to genetically engineered mice (HRN) which do not express NADPH:cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase (POR) in hepatocytes and observed higher DNA adduct levels in livers of these mice than in wild-type mice. To elucidate the reason for this unexpected finding we have used two different settings for in vitro incubations; hepatic microsomes from control and BaP-pretreated HRN mice and reconstituted systems with cytochrome P450 1A1 (CYP1A1), POR, cytochrome b5, and epoxide hydrolase (mEH) in different ratios. In microsomes from BaP-pretreated mice, in which Cyp1a1 was induced, higher levels of BaP metabolites were formed, mainly of BaP-7,8-dihydrodiol. At a low POR:CYP1A1 ratio of 0.05:1 in the reconstituted system, the amounts of BaP diones and BaP-9-ol formed were essentially the same as at an equimolar ratio, but formation of BaP-3-ol was ∼ 1.6-fold higher. Only after addition of mEH were BaP dihydrodiols found. Two BaP-DNA adducts were formed in the presence of mEH, but only one when CYP1A1 and POR were present alone. At a ratio of POR:CYP1A1 of 0.05:1, addition of cytochrome b5 increased CYP1A1-mediated BaP oxidation to most of its metabolites indicating that cytochrome b5 participates in the electron transfer from NADPH to CYP1A1 required for enzyme activity of this CYP. BaP-9-ol was formed even by CYP1A1 reconstituted with cytochrome b5 without POR. Our results suggest that in livers of HRN mice Cyp1a1, cytochrome b5 and mEH can effectively activate BaP to DNA binding species, even in the presence of very low amounts of POR.

shifts oxidation of the anticancer drug ellipticine by cytochromes P450 1A1 and 1A2 from its detoxication to activation, thereby modulating its pharmacological efficacy. Biochemical Pharmacology, Elsevier, 2011, 82 (6) This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Page 1 of 45A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 3 ABSTRACTEllipticine is a pro-drug, whose activation is dependent on its oxidation by cytochromes P450 (

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The antineoplastic alkaloid ellipticine is a prodrug, whose pharmacological efficiency is dependent on its cytochrome P450 (P450)- and/or peroxidase-mediated activation in target tissues. The P450 3A4 enzyme oxidizes ellipticine to five metabolites, mainly to 13-hydroxy- and 12-hydroxyellipticine, the metabolites responsible for the formation of ellipticine-13-ylium and ellipticine-12-ylium ions that generate covalent DNA adducts. Cytochrome b(5) alters the ratio of ellipticine metabolites formed by P450 3A4. While the amounts of the detoxication metabolites (7-hydroxy- and 9-hydroxyellipticine) were not changed with added cytochrome b(5), 12-hydroxy- and 13-hydroxyellipticine, and ellipticine N(2)-oxide increased considerably. The P450 3A4-mediated oxidation of ellipticine was significantly changed only by holo-cytochrome b(5), while apo-cytochrome b(5) without heme or Mn-cytochrome b(5) had no such effect. The change in amounts of metabolites resulted in an increased formation of covalent ellipticine-DNA adducts, one of the DNA-damaging mechanisms of ellipticine antitumor action. The amounts of 13-hydroxy- and 12-hydroxyellipticine formed by P450 3A4 were similar, but more than 7-fold higher levels of the adduct were formed by 13-hydroxyellipticine than by 12-hydroxyellipticine. The higher susceptibility of 13-hydroxyellipticine toward heterolytic dissociation to ellipticine-13-ylium in comparison to dissociation of 12-hydroxyellipticine to ellipticine-12-ylium, determined by quantum chemical calculations, explains this phenomenon. The amounts of the 13-hydroxyellipticine-derived DNA adduct significantly increased upon reaction of 13-hydroxyellipticine with either 3'-phosphoadenosine-5'-phosphosulfate or acetyl-CoA catalyzed by human sulfotransferases 1A1, 1A2, 1A3, and 2A1, or N,O-acetyltransferases 1 and 2. The calculated reaction free energies of heterolysis of the sulfate and acetate esters are by 10-17 kcal/mol more favorable than the energy of hydrolysis of 13-hydroxyellipticine, which could explain the experimental data.

Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) is a human carcinogen that covalently binds to DNA after metabolic activation by cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes. In this study human recombinant CYPs (CYP1A1, 1A2, 1B1, 2A6, 2B6, 2C8, 2C9, 2C19, 2E1, 3A4, and 3A5) were expressed in Supersomes™ together with their reductases, NADPH:CYP oxidoreductase, epoxide hydrolase and cytochrome b5, to investigate BaP metabolism. Human CYPs produced up to eight BaP metabolites. Among these, BaP‐7,8‐dihydrodiol and BaP‐9‐ol, which are intermediates in BaP‐derived DNA adduct formation, were mainly formed by CYP1A1 and 1B1, and to a lesser extent by CYP2C19 and 3A4. BaP‐3‐ol, a metabolite that is a ‘detoxified’ product of BaP, was formed by most human CYPs tested, although CYP1A1 and 1B1 produced it the most efficiently. Based on the amounts of the individual BaP metabolites formed by these CYPs and their expression levels in human liver, we determined their contributions to BaP metabolite formation in this organ. Our results indicate that hepatic CYP1A1 and CYP2C19 are most important in the activation of BaP to BaP‐7,8‐dihydrodiol, whereas CYP2C19, 3A4, and 1A1 are the major enzymes contributing to the formation of BaP‐9‐ol. BaP‐3‐ol is predominantly formed by hepatic CYP3A4, while CYP1A1 and 2C19 are less active. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 57:229–235, 2016. © 2016 The Authors. Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) is a widespread environmental carcinogen activated by cytochrome P450 (P450) enzymes. In Hepatic P450 Reductase Null (HRN) and Reductase Conditional Null (RCN) mice, P450 oxidoreductase (Por) is deleted specifically in hepatocytes, resulting in the loss of essentially all hepatic P450 function. Treatment of HRN mice with a single i.p. or oral dose of BaP (12.5 or 125mg/kg body weight) resulted in higher DNA adduct levels in liver (up to 10-fold) than in wild-type (WT) mice, indicating that hepatic P450s appear to be more important for BaP detoxification in vivo. Similar results were obtained in RCN mice. We tested whether differences between hepatocytes and non-hepatocytes in P450 activity may underlie the increased liver BaP-DNA binding in HRN mice. Cellular localisation by immunohistochemistry of BaP-DNA adducts showed that HRN mice have ample capacity for formation of BaP-DNA adducts in liver, indicating that the metabolic process does not result in the generation of a reactive species different from that formed in WT mice. However, increased protein expression of cytochrome b(5) in hepatic microsomes of HRN relative to WT mice suggests that cytochrome b(5) may modulate the P450-mediated bioactivation of BaP in HRN mice, partially substituting the function of Por.

The tumour suppressor p53 is one of the most important cancer genes. Previous findings have shown that p53 expression can influence DNA adduct formation of the environmental carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) in human cells, indicating a role for p53 in the cytochrome P450 (CYP) 1A1-mediated biotransformation of BaP in vitro. We investigated the potential role of p53 in xenobiotic metabolism in vivo by treating Trp53(+/+), Trp53(+/–) and Trp53(−/−) mice with BaP. BaP-DNA adduct levels, as measured by 32P-postlabelling analysis, were significantly higher in liver and kidney of Trp53(−/−) mice than of Trp53(+/+) mice. Complementarily, significantly higher amounts of BaP metabolites were also formed ex vivo in hepatic microsomes from BaP-pretreated Trp53(−/−) mice. Bypass of the need for metabolic activation by treating mice with BaP-7,8-dihydrodiol-9,10-epoxide resulted in similar adduct levels in liver and kidney in all mouse lines, confirming that the influence of p53 is on the biotransformation of the parent compound. Higher BaP-DNA adduct levels in the livers of Trp53(−/−) mice correlated with higher CYP1A protein levels and increased CYP1A enzyme activity in these animals. Our study demonstrates a role for p53 in the metabolism of BaP in vivo, confirming previous in vitro results on a novel role for p53 in CYP1A1-mediated BaP metabolism. However, our results also suggest that the mechanisms involved in the altered expression and activity of the CYP1A1 enzyme by p53 in vitro and in vivo are different.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00204-015-1531-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.