Further evidence that ouabain-resistant variants induced by chemical carcinogens in transformable C3H/10T1/2 Cl 8 mouse fibroblasts are mutants

Transformation of BALB/c-3T3 cells: III. Development of a co-culture clonal survival assay for quantification of chemical cytotoxicity in high-density cell cultures

A co-culture clonal survival assay was developed to measure the cytotoxicity of test chemical treatments to BALB/c-3T3 cells because the standard clonal survival assay using 200 wild type (WT) cells frequently overestimates chemical cytotoxicity when compared with identical treatment doses in high-density cultures. The assay used co-cultures of 3.2 x 10(4) WT cells, the same seeding density used in the transformation assay, and 200 ouabain resistant (OUAr) cells. After a 48-hr test chemical treatment, co-cultured cells were fed with culture medium containing 4 mM ouabain. The test chemical was cytotoxic to an equal percentage of WT and OUAr cells. Ouabain treatments killed the remaining WT cells. Thus, OUAr cells surviving the test chemical treatment measured the relative cloning efficiency (RCE) of all treated cells in the high-density cell co-culture. The co-culture assay succeeded because metabolic cooperation at the OUAr locus was not detected in BALB/c-3T3 cells. Five chemicals induced comparable cytotoxic responses in both assays, including actinomycin D, 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine, N'-methyl-N-nitro-N'-nitrosoguanidine, dimethyl sulfoxide and sodium chloride. In contrast, chemical cytotoxic responses detected in the standard and co-culture assays differed by > or = 10-fold for 11-aminoundecanoic acid, benzo[a]pyrene, cytosine arabinoside, and 3-methyl-cholanthrene and differed by > 2-fold for 2-acetylaminofluorene and dimethylnitrosamine. Detection of 11-aminoundecanoic acid-induced transformation was shown to be dependent on selecting treatment doses from the co-culture assay data. Thus, this method permits more accurate assessment of both chemical-induced cytotoxicity and transformation.

Relationship between O6-alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase activity and N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine-induced mutation, transformation, and cytotoxicity in C3H/10T1/2 cells expressing exogenous alkyltransferase genes

While a great deal of evidence has directly implicated the importance of O6-alkylation of guanine in the mutagenicity of alkylating agents, evidence demonstrating the oncogenic potential of this lesion has been largely indirect. We have combined a well-studied in vitro neoplastic transformation system (using C3H/10T1/2 mouse cells) with a proven method of gene transfection for expressing the bacterial O6-alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase (AT; EC 2.1.1.63) repair genes ada and ogt to generate subclones which possess augmented repair capability toward specific DNA lesions. The products of these genes specifically and differentially repair O6-methylguanine (O6-MeGua), O4-methylthymine (O4-MeThy), and methylphosphotriesters. We show that the level of expression of either the ada or the ogt AT gene in C3H/10T1/2 cells directly correlates with protection against mutation to ouabain resistance by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG). Subclones expressing 70 fmol of AT per 10(6) cells exhibited a mutation frequency approximately 1/40th of that of clones expressing 15 fmol of AT per 10(6) cells when treated with MNNG at 0.4 micrograms/ml. Protection against mutagenesis by MNNG at 0.8 micrograms/ml, however, did not exceed 12-fold even in subclones expressing greater than 100 fmol of AT per 10(6) cells. As an MNNG dose of 0.6 micrograms/ml was sufficient to saturate more than 95% of the AT activity in any of the clones, the residual mutation frequency may have been caused by unrepaired O6MeGua lesions. In contrast to mutagenesis, protection against neoplastic transformation in vitro, in cells expressing high levels of AT, was most pronounced in cells treated with the highest dose of MNNG used (1.2 micrograms/ml). Low levels of transformation caused by MNNG at 0.4 and 0.8 micrograms/ml were not consistently inhibited in those clones. These data suggest that O6-MeGua formation is of major but not unique significance in the neoplastic transformation of C3H/10T1/2 cells by MNNG.

Cytotoxicity and negligible genotoxicity of borax and borax ores to cultured mammalian cells

The cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of refined borax and borax ores were studied in cultured mammalian cells. In V79 Chinese hamster cells, C3H/10T1/2 mouse embryo fibroblasts, and diploid human foreskin fibroblasts, crude borax ore, kernite ore, and refined borax were all cytotoxic. The lowest concentrations at which cytotoxicity was observed were 0.02 mg/ml and 0.1 mg/ml for borax ore in C3H/10T1/2 and human fibroblasts, respectively, 0.2 mg/ml for kernite ore in both cell types, and 0.1 mg/ml for refined borax in both C3H/10T1/2 and human fibroblasts. The cytotoxicity was dose dependent above these concentrations. The concentrations of borax ore, kernite ore, and refined borax that reduced the relative plating efficiency to 50% were approximately 3.2, 1.6, and 0.8 mg/ml, respectively, in human fibroblasts and were 0.8 mg/ml for all three substances in C3H/10T1/2 cells. All three borax samples were not significantly mutagenic in assays for mutation to ouabain resistance in human fibroblasts an C3H/10T1/2 cells and were at most only weakly mutagenic in an assay for mutation to 8-azaguanine resistance in V79 Chinese hamster cells. Refined borax did not induce neoplastic transformation in C3H/10T1/2 cells. Crude borax ore and kernite ore induced weak transformation that was not dose-dependent and was not reproducible in another experiment. Therefore, borax and its ores are cytotoxic to mammalian cells at high (mg/ml) concentrations and are at most weakly mutagenic but not significantly oncogenic as measured in a cell transformation assay.

Microcell-mediated transfer of carcinogen-induced ouabain resistance from C3H/10T1/2 Cl 8 mouse fibroblasts to human cells

We previously developed a quantitative assay for measuring the induction of ouabain-resistant (Ouar) variants in transformable C3H/20T1/2 Cl 8 mouse fibroblasts following treatment of the cells with chemical carcinogens. To further define the nature of the Ouar phenotype, we conducted microcell-mediated chromosome transfer studies using Ouar cell lines induced by chemical carcinogens in C3H/10T1/2 Cl 8 cells as donors and 8-azaguanine-resistant (Azgr) derivatives of the human cell lines, D98/AH2 and HT 1080, as recipients. Microcells prepared from one spontaneous and two carcinogen-induced Ouar mouse cell lines were able to transfer resistance to 0.01 and 1 mM Oua to ouabain-sensitive D98 and HT 1080 cells. The frequency of microcell hybrid formation ranged from 10(-6) to 10(-5). Karyotypic analysis of the microcell hybrids indicated that the Ouar phenotype of C3H/10T1/2 Cl 8 derivatives mapped to mouse chromosome 3, the chromosome to which the wild-type murine Oua-1 allele had previously been assigned. These studies show that both spontaneous and chemically induced high level Ouar phenotypes of C3H/10T1/2 Cl 8 mouse fibroblasts can be transferred via microcell-mediated chromosome transfer, and provide strong genetic evidence that chemically induced Ouar phenotypes of C3H/10T1/2 Cl 8 cells arise from mutations at Oua-1. In addition, this study sufficiently standardizes microcell-mediated chromosome transfer in the C3H/10T1/2 Cl 8 cell line so that this technique can be used to investigate the nature of other phenotypic changes in these cells, such as the chemically transformed phenotype.

Induction of ouabain-resistant mutants by chemical carcinogens in rat prostate epithelial cells

We determined optimal conditions to quantitatively select ouabain-resistant (Ouar) mutants induced by chemical carcinogens in a rat prostate epithelial cell line (RPYK). These conditions included selection of Ouar mutants in 3 mM ouabain, an expression time of two days following a two-day treatment with carcinogens, and a reseeding density of 2 X 10(5) mutagenized cells per 100 mm dish to select mutants in ouabain. Ouar mutants induced by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N'-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) remained stably Ouar when passaged in nonselective medium. Hemicyst formation, a characteristic of epithelial cells, was reversibly inhibited by ouabain in wild-type cells and was resistant to ouabain in Ouar cells. The direct-acting carcinogens MNNG and methylazoxymethanol-acetate (MAMA) and the environmentally widespread procarcinogens aflatoxin B1 and benzo(a)pyrene increased the frequency of Ouar mutants in RPYK cells. The procedures developed here now make it possible to detect some environmental carcinogens likely to cause prostate cancer by virtue of their ability to mutate cultured prostate epithelial RPYK cells. The sensitivity of the RPYK cell line to aflatoxin-induced cytotoxicity and mutagenesis also makes it a useful cell system in which to study enzymes governing the conversion of aflatoxin to genotoxic metabolites.

Differential cell cycle phase specificity for neoplastic transformation and mutation to ouabain resistance induced by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine in synchronized C3H10T 1/2 C18 cells

The transformable mouse embryo fibroblast cell line C3H10T 1/2 C18 has been employed to study the induction by the carcinogen N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) of morphological transformation and mutation to ouabain resistance throughout the cell cycle. Cells were synchronized by means of isoleucine deprivation for 24 hr and initiated DNA synthesis with a high degree of synchrony 7.5 hr after release of the isoleucine block. At various intervals throughout the cell cycle cultures were treated with MNNG at 1.0 microgram/ml and the induction of cytotoxicity, morphological transformation, and ouabain-resistant colonies was determined. All three phenomena exhibited marked cell-cycle phase dependency. Maximal induction of transformation occurred in cultured treated 7.5 hr after release from isoleucine deprivation, when the cells were at the G1/S boundary. In contrast, induction of ouabain-resistant colonies was at a minimum at the time of maximal induction of transformation, and peak induction of ouabain resistance did not occur until 16-18 hr after release from the isoleucine block, when cells were in late S phase. A close correlation was observed between the induction of cytotoxicity and of ouabain-resistant mutants. The results suggest that differences exist in the production or cellular processing of the various early lesions.

Mutagenesis and transformation of C3H 10T 1/2 cells treated with ethyl methanesulfonate

Survival, mutagenesis and transformation were measured in mouse embryo C3H 10T 1/2 cells following treatment with ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS). Ouabain-resistant cells and transformed cells were isolated, and reconstruction experiments were carried out to determine the optimum conditions for the measurement of mutation and transformation frequencies. Survival was measured by plating efficiency; mutagenesis was measured in terms of the induction of cells able to form colonies in the presence of ouabain; and transformation was measured by the induction of cells forming either morphologically altered colonies on a monolayer of contact-inhibited cells or of cells capable of forming colonies in semi-solid media. When confluent monolayers were incubated for 4 h after treatment with EMS, to allow excision repair before the resumption of DNA synthesis, survival as well as the frequencies of both mutation and transformation increased. When this repair (or holding) period was extended to 24 h, the frequencies of mutation and transformation both decreased as compared to the 4-h holding period. Thus, the holding periods affect the frequencies of EMS-induced mutagenesis and transformation similarly.