Differential expression of prostaglandin H synthase isozymes during multistage carcinogenesis in mouse epidermis

Mechanisms in tumor promotion: guidance for risk assessment and cancer chemoprevention

In mouse skin, tumor development promoted by 'non-genotoxic' carcinogens is closely related to the wound response. In both cases endogenous factors such as cytokines and eicosanoids released primarily from 'activated keratinocytes' play a key role as mediators of inflammation and cellular hyperproliferation. The liberation of interleukin-1 alpha and arachidonic acid from human keratinocytes has been used as an in vitro parameter of irritancy. The results (from experiments with 15 different chemicals) being validated at present in a clinical study indicate a quantitative relationship between irritancy in vivo and mediator release in vitro. In the course of experimental skin carcinogenesis an overproduction of eicosanoids due to a constitutive overexpression of the corresponding enzymes (i.e. PGH synthase-II and 8- and 12-lipoxygenase) is observed. Enzyme inhibitors, for instance nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), exert a strong tumoristatic effect. Thus, the approach of multistage skin carcinogenesis provides a suitable animal model for a mechanistic evaluation and further improvement of chemopreventive measures such as the inhibition of colorectal tumor development in humans by NSAIDs ('aspirin effect').

Prostaglandin synthase 1 gene disruption in mice reduces arachidonic acid-induced inflammation and indomethacin-induced gastric ulceration

Cyclooxygenases 1 and 2 (COX-1 and COX-2) are key enzymes in prostaglandin biosynthesis and the target enzymes for the widely used nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. To study the physiological roles of the individual isoforms, we have disrupted the mouse Ptgs1 gene encoding COX-1. Homozygous Ptgs1 mutant mice survive well, have no gastric pathology, and show less indomethacin-induced gastric ulceration than wild-type mice, even though their gastric prostaglandin E2 levels are about 1% of wild type. The homozygous mutant mice have reduced platelet aggregation and a decreased inflammatory response to arachidonic acid, but not to tetradecanoyl phorbol acetate. Ptgs1 homozygous mutant females mated to homozygous mutant males produce few live offspring. COX-1-deficient mice provide a useful model to distinguish the physiological roles of COX-1 and COX-2.

12-Lipoxygenase isoenzymes in mouse skin tumor development

12-lipoxygenase-catalyzed arachidonic acid metabolism in normal and neoplastic mouse epidermis was assessed by cDNA cloning of the epidermal 12-lipoxygenases and by studying their expression patterns, enzyme activities, and product levels. Papillomas and squamous cell carcinomas induced by the initiation/promotion protocol contained 50- to 60-fold more 12-hydroxy-5,8,10,14-eicosatetraenoic acid (HETE) than normal epidermis. The ratio of S to R enantiomers was 9:1. This indicates that most of this eicosanoid was of enzymatic origin. Accordingly, cell-free preparations of the tumors exhibited about fivefold elevated 12-lipoxygenase activities. A papilloma-derived cDNA library was screened with human platelet-type 12-lipoxygenase cDNA probes. Two cDNA clones encoding the platelet-type and the leukocyte-type isoforms of murine 12-lipoxygenase were isolated, demonstrating the coexpression of the isoenzymes in the same tissue and species. When expressed in COS-7 cells, the recombinant enzymes showed the characteristic substrate selectivity and product profile, with the leukocyte-type enzyme metabolizing linoleic and arachidonic acid to 13-hydroxy-9,11-octadecadienoic acid and to 12- and 15-HETE, respectively, and the platelet-type enzyme oxygenating exclusively arachidonic acid to 12-HETE. In epidermis in vivo and in keratinocytes in culture, only the platelet-type 12-lipoxygenase (mRNA and protein) was detectable. In mouse epidermis both isoenzymes were induced transiently by phorbol esters. Most tumors showed constitutive overexpression of platelet-type mRNA, whereas leukocyte-type specific transcripts were detectable only in a few tumors. These data suggest that the platelet-type enzyme is the 12-lipoxygenase isoform of keratinocytes that is responsible for the generation of most of the 12-HETE found in neoplastic epidermis.

Differential expression of prostaglandin-H synthase isoenzymes in normal and activated keratinocytes in vivo and in vitro

Normal mouse epidermis constitutively expresses prostaglandin-H synthase 1 (PGHS-1) but no PGHS-2. Acute inflammation and epidermal hyperplasia, (hyperplastic transformation), as evoked in adult mouse skin in vivo by wounding or by the phorbol ester phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), resulted in a transient induction of PGHS-2 expression while PGHS-1 remained unchanged. Under conditions of a stationary epidermal hyperplasia, as in neonatal mouse epidermis, PGHS-1, but not PGHS-2, expression was observed. Induction of 'balanced hyperproliferation' by 4-O-methyl-phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (4-O-methyl-PMA) did not lead to PGHS-2 expression. When keratinocytes were isolated from neonatal mouse skin and separated by Percoll density-gradient centrifugation according to their stage of differentiation, PGHS-1 mRNA expression and protein were found to be highest in the differentiated cells compared with those from the proliferative compartment. A similar distribution of PGHS-1 mRNA was found in keratinocytes from adult mice, whereas PGHS-1 protein was equally distributed in all cell types. Contrary to the situation in intact epidermis, PGHS-2 mRNA but no protein was detected in all cell fractions. Established keratinocyte lines constitutively expressed both isoenzymes at different ratios. In the mouse line MSCP5 an almost exclusive expression of PGHS-2 was found, which was further enhanced by PMA treatment. These data indicate that the expression of PGHS-2 in mouse epidermis is specifically related to the emergency reaction of hyperplastic transformation.