Consumption of charbroiled red meat and meat-derived polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) has been associated with risk of colorectal adenoma, a precursor of colorectal cancer. Furthermore, leukocyte PAH-DNA adduct levels have been demonstrated to increase in response to charbroiled red meat intake but to date there have been no studies that have investigated the relationship between leukocyte PAH-DNA adduct levels and risk of colorectal adenoma. We investigated the relation of leukocyte PAH-DNA adduct formation and colorectal adenoma in a clinic-based case-control study of colorectal adenomas. The study comprised 82 cases of colorectal adenoma and 111 polyp-free controls, none of whom were current smokers. Leukocyte PAH-DNA adducts were measured by a sensitive chemiluminescence immunoassay using an antiserum elicited against DNA modified with (+/-)-7beta,8alpha-dihydroxy-9alpha,10alpha-epoxy-7,8,9,10-tetrahydro-benzo[a]pyrene that recognizes several PAHs bound to human DNA. Leukocyte PAH-DNA adduct levels were higher among colorectal adenoma cases (median, 1.4 adducts per 10(8) nucleotides) than polyp-free controls (median, 1.2 adducts per 10(8) nucleotides) (P = 0.02). There was a positive association between PAH-DNA adduct level and adenoma prevalence: each unit increase in PAH-DNA adduct level (per 10(8) nucleotides) was associated with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.5 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.1-2.2]. In addition, a comparison of the lowest quartile for PAH-DNA adduct level with the highest quartile yielded an OR of 2.8 (95% CI, 1.2-6.5; P(trend) = 0.048) for risk of colorectal adenoma. These data support a link between PAH exposure and colorectal adenoma.

Long-term use of antiretroviral nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) as therapy for human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) infection is limited by mitochondrial toxicity. Here we document mitochondrial pathology during the long-term culture of human HeLa cells in the presence or absence of the NRTI Zidovudine(R) (AZT, 800 muM) for up to 77-passages (p), with samples taken at early (p5-p11), middle (p36 and p37), and late (p70-p77) passages. Samples were analyzed for changes in mitochondrial morphology, mitochondrial (mt)DNA quantity, nuclear and mitochondrial gene expression, and mitochondrial membrane potential. Mitochondria showed abnormal proliferation at p5 and abnormal morphology >/=p36. mtDNA quantity was increased at p5 and p11, and 65% depleted at p71. Hierarchical clustering of nuclear gene expression, examined at p37 by the NCI cDNA microarray in AZT-exposed cells, showed down-regulation of 13 out of 16 lipid-metabolizing genes, and up-regulation of most oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) genes. OXPHOS genes encoded by mtDNA, examined at p5, p36, and p75 using the Mitochondrial Gene Mini Array, revealed up-regulation of genes coding for polypeptides of NADH dehydrogenase, ATP synthase, and cytochrome c oxidase. Mitochondrial membrane potential, monitored by JC1 staining, was elevated at p10 and p32, and essentially completely absent at p71. The data show that during chronic exposure of HeLa cells to AZT, a compensatory response was induced at the earlier passages (p5-p37), and by p71 there was widespread mitochondrial morphological damage, severe mtDNA depletion, and a substantial loss of mitochondrial membrane potential.