The in vitro experiment was carried out following 32P-postlabeling analysis to determine the DNA-reactive bile acids present in the human body. The unconjugated and conjugated forms of cholic (CA), chenodeoxycholic (CDCA), deoxycholic (DCA) and lithocholic acid (LCA) were added to calf thymus DNA followed by 1 h of incubation at 37 degrees C. After the incubation the mixture was analyzed by the nuclease P1 modification of 32P-postlabeling. Among the 12 bile acids tested, our results showed that unconjugated CDCA and LCA and the glycine and taurine conjugates of LCA (g-LCA, t-LCA) were able to bind covalently with naked DNA in vitro without intervention of any catalyst. It was also shown that bile acid alone did not give any spot on TLC. These binding reactions depended on the bile acid concentration in a linear manner. The data on the extent of binding at a concentration of 0.1 mg/ml showed values of 28.5 (t-LCA), 23.7 (g-LCA), 3.47 (LCA) and 1.32 (CDCA) adducts per 10(8) nucleotides. These reactive bile acids were also incubated with COLO 205 human colon carcinoma cells and Hep G2 human hepatocellular carcinoma cells for 24 h, but no specific DNA adduct was formed. Further, when LCA or CDCA was administered into male Fischer 344 rats by gavage at a dose of 10 mg/rat every 8 h for 3 days, no specific DNA adduct was detected in their liver or colon. Covalent DNA adducts are believed to cause alteration of the primary structure of genes, which is potentially linked to carcinogenesis. Though our preliminary data failed to detect any bile acid-related DNA adducts in the cultured cells or in rats, the results may provide a basis for assuming some of these bile acids to be potential initiators of colon cancer.

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DNA of normal mucosa and the adjacent muscular layer from 18 adults suffering from colorectal neoplasms was examined by 32P-post-labeling analysis in order to estimate the exposure of the human colon and rectum to environmental carcinogens. Colorectal DNA samples obtained from six newborns were also examined as a normal control because they were presumed to have been minimally exposed to environmental carcinogens. One common mucosa-specific DNA adduct was found in the normal colorectal wall in all adults at the level of 0.10-34.13 adducts/10(8) nucleotides (mean +/- SD: 3.64 +/- 7.92 adducts/10(8) nucleotides), however, these were absent from the newborns' colons. Although several common spots were present in the mucosa, muscular layer and newborn tissues, there was no muscular layer-specific DNA adduct. The relationship between the levels of the mucosa-specific DNA adduct in the non-cancerous part and the histological degree of malignancy was not significant. The presence of this mucosa-specific DNA adduct in adult colon suggests that the human colon is commonly exposed mainly to one environmental carcinogen. This carcinogen is supposed to originate from foods, because the incidence of colorectal carcinoma is closely linked to dietary habits and the mucosa-specific DNA adduct was not present in newborns who had never ingested food. The incidence of adult colonic cancer originating from its mucosa is high, while cases of muscular origin or in newborn colon are rare. Therefore, the mucosa-specific DNA adduct is presumably responsible for the development of colonic cancer of epithelial origin.

No abstract

The presence of several covalent DNA adducts in the human colon was demonstrated by 32P-postlabeling in a previous study. We demonstrated that DNA of all the colonic mucosa tested were selectively adducted by a single genotoxic agent and this modification was completely absent in the DNA of muscular layers. In this study, the DNA adducts of the small intestine are compared with those of the colon to understand the role of mucosa-specific DNA adduct (MSA) in intestinal carcinogenesis. The mucosal DNA of the small intestine from 19 adults undergoing surgery due to gastric carcinoma (seven cases), pancreatic carcinoma (four cases), colon carcinoma (four cases), small intestinal tumor (two cases), intestinal trauma (one case) and ectopic pancreas (one cases) were analyzed. The mucosa-adjacent muscular layer DNA of the corresponding samples was examined as a control. Several common DNA adducts were observed in both mucosal and muscular layers of all the adults. Besides these common background DNA adducts, two MSAs (Si1, Si2) were detected in most of the adults as in colon cases. Si1 was present in all adults examined (19/19 cases) at a level of 0.04-0.22 adducts/10(8) nucleotides (average 0.09) and Si2 was found in 13/19 patients at a level of 0.03-0.08 adducts/10(8) nucleotides (average 0.05). Si2 was the same adduct detected in the adult colonic mucosa. However, they were absent in the adjacent muscular layer as well as in the neonatal intestine tested as a control. The total level of the mucosa-specific DNA adducts of the small intestine was approximately 28-fold lower than that of the colon. Considering that the incidence of cancer in the small intestine is rather lower than that in the colon, these results may be relevant to the development of human intestinal cancer.