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Biomedical subjects

A Bredberg

Publications and source records attributed to A Bredberg.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Mutational response of Fanconi anaemia cells to shuttle vector site-specific psoralen cross-links.

Fanconi anaemia (FA) is a hereditary tumour-prone disorder. FA cells exposed to DNA crosslinking agents show an increased frequency of chromosome aberrations and of deletion type mutations. The molecular basis of FA presumably is a deficiency in cellular repair of DNA adducts. In this work a shuttle vector plasmid was treated with 8-methoxypsoralen + a split dose of UVA (leading to crosslink induction), and transfected into FA lymphoblasts. The supF gene of the vector showed a mutation frequency similar to that of normal cells; however, the number of base substitutions was relatively low, whereas a high level (50%) of deletions was seen. With both normal and FA cells these deletions varied greatly in size and were randomly distributed within the supF gene. DNA cross-links were also induced using a triple helix forming 22-mer oligonucleotide linked to a psoralen molecule and being complementary to part of supF, leading to a > 30-fold increase of mutations, which were mainly position 167 single-base substitutions and showed a pattern identical to that of the normal cells. This normal response of FA cells to the site-specific DNA cross-links may reflect that not all gene sequences of FA cells are subjected to abnormal DNA repair. Alternatively, it may reflect a lower than normal genome-overall activity of a DNA cross-link repair complex, fully capable of efficiently repairing only molecules carrying relatively few adducts.

Base Sequence↗

Repair of triple helix directed psoralen adducts in human cells.

Triple helix forming oligonucleotides can direct DNA damaging agents at specific sites in an intact double helix. In our study, triple helix formation was demonstrated in a SV40 based shuttle vector treated with psoralen linked to a 22-mer purine rich oligonucleotide. UVA irradiation caused a covalent linkage of the oligonucleotide through the psoralen to the mutational supF marker gene of the plasmid. After passage in the Jurkat human cell line the recovered vector was analysed in an indicator bacterial strain and mutants were collected. The presence of adducts in the target sequence did not reduce the yield of replicated progeny vector molecules, indicating repair of triple helix associated monoadducts and cross-links. Mutations were highly targeted to a six nucleotide long region of the target sequence. The number of target sequence mutants obtained after triple helix directed psoralen treatment was approximately 160 times higher than with free psoralen. A further investigation of the exact mechanism of the mutational process could make triple helix directed mutagenesis a more useful tool in gene therapy, antiviral therapy, and in studies on DNA repair and genome organisation.

Base Sequence↗

A reduced level of multiple mutation in a shuttle vector passaged in Sjögren's syndrome cells.

Sjögren's syndrome is a systemic disorder with unknown etiology, displaying many signs of autoimmunity. Although the basic mechanism of this disease is unknown, a defect in somatic mutagenesis of antibody genes has been suggested. Using a shuttle vector plasmid, we here show that the number of vectors with multiple base changes in a marker gene was reduced in B cell lines from two patients with Sjögren's syndrome (8% in both), as compared with values reported for cell lines from normal human donors (16-27%). This finding suggests that a reduction of the rate of somatic mutagenesis may influence the development of symptoms in Sjögren patients.

B-Lymphocytes↗

Damage distribution and mutation spectrum: the case of 8-methoxypsoralen plus UVA in mammalian cells.

We determined the distribution of monoadducts and biadducts induced in the supF tRNA gene carried by the shuttle vector pZ189, after exposure to 8-methoxypsoralen (8-MOP) plus a double UVA (365 nm) irradiation. These data were compared to our previously published 8-MOP-photoinduced mutation spectrum obtained after propagation of the damaged shuttle vector in mammalian cells. One mutational hot spot in an ATAT/TATA sequence is targeted at a hot spot of biaddition. A second hot spot is not related to the presence of photoadducts either at or near the site. Moreover, it is located in a sequence which can be defined as 'mutation-prone'. Mutations occurring at GC base pairs are not targeted at sites of photoaddition, and may result from a decrease in fidelity of DNA polymerase when copying the damaged vector.

Animals↗

Ciprofloxacin-induced inhibition of topoisomerase II in human lymphoblastoid cells.

The antibacterial activities of the fluorinated 4-quinolones (e.g., ciprofloxacin) have been ascribed to a marked inhibition of bacterial DNA gyrase. In contrast, the influence on purified mammalian DNA enzymes, including topoisomerases, has been reported to be several orders of magnitude weaker, occurring at concentrations higher than 100 micrograms of ciprofloxacin per ml. In this study, using a nondenaturing filter elution method, a marked induction of double-strand DNA breaks in human lymphoblastoid cells exposed to 80 micrograms of ciprofloxacin per ml was seen. The proportion of single-strand versus double-strand DNA breaks was similar to that seen with the topoisomerase II inhibitory antitumor agent VP-16. The cellular recovery was more rapid after treatment with ciprofloxacin than after treatment with VP-16, displaying a normal elution profile within 15 min at 37 degrees C (60 min for VP-16). These data indicate that ciprofloxacin has an effect on intracellularly located topoisomerase II in humans.

Cell Line↗

Evaluation of coagulase-negative staphylococci in blood cultures. A prospective clinical and microbiological study.

Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) are the commonest microorganisms in blood cultures, and sorting out patients with CNS septicemia from sample contamination a persistent problem. We prospectively evaluated 73 patients with CNS-positive blood cultures during 1 year and analysed the corresponding 122 isolates in order to determine the rate of septicemia and define the role of microbiological markers of identity such as plasmid profile for that purpose. Three patients had true septicemia, all of them with implanted foreign devices. The plasmid analysis, being the most reliable identity marker, had its greatest implication in reducing the intermediate group of patients clinically suspected of septicemia from 12 to 4. Strict clinical criteria and serial blood cultures are most important in sorting out patients with CNS septicemia from cases of sample contamination. In high risk patients--critically ill with implanted foreign devices--plasmid analysis or other reliable markers of identity are of great additional value.

Adult↗

Ciprofloxacin does not inhibit mitochondrial functions but other antibiotics do.

At clinical concentrations, ciprofloxacin did not inhibit mitochondrial DNA replication, oxidative phosphorylation, protein synthesis, or mitochondrial mass (transmembrane potential). No difference in supercoiled forms of DNA was observed. The tetracyclines and chloramphenicol inhibited protein synthesis at clinically achievable concentrations, while rifampin, fusidic acid, and clindamycin did not.

Animals↗

4-Quinolone antibiotics: positive genotoxic screening tests despite an apparent lack of mutation induction.

The effects of different 4-quinolone antibiotic derivatives (4-Qs) in a number of short-term tests commonly employed for the evaluation of genetic toxicity were studied. Incorporation of [3H]thymidine into mitogen-stimulated peripheral blood lymphocytes was strongly enhanced at a low concentration (1.56 micrograms/ml) for most of the tested 4-Qs, whereas DNA strand breakage in lymphoblastoid cells was evident only for ciprofloxacin (10 micrograms/ml and upwards), ofloxacin (80 micrograms/ml) and norfloxacin (160 micrograms/ml). Ciprofloxacin induced a significant amount of unscheduled DNA synthesis, but was found to be negative in a shuttle vector plasmid mutation test. Ciprofloxacin (80 micrograms/ml) did not inhibit enzymes involved in the early steps of pyrimidine biosynthesis. Cell growth was slightly depressed at a concentration of 20 micrograms/ml, becoming marked at 80 micrograms/ml. In conclusion, this study seeks to contribute to an improved evaluation of genotoxic screening test data, by focusing attention on the conflicting effects imposed by the 4-Qs on a battery of such tests.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

Effect of ciprofloxacin on human lymphocytes--laboratory studies.

4-Quinolones affect mammalian cellular functions in vitro in several ways. Inhibition of cell proliferation differ widely among 4-quinolones. Ciprofloxacin is one of the most antiproliferative inhibiting cell growth with about 30% at 20 mg/l. Genotoxicity tests with 4-quinolones are probably "false" positive due to an increased [3H]-thymidine uptake not related to DNA damage. Ciprofloxacin at 10 mg/l and up causes significant DNA strand breaks which seemingly are quickly repaired and not causing mutations or cancerogenesis. Ciprofloxacin at 5 mg/l inhibits immunoglobulin production but the growth factor interleukin 2 (IL-2) is increased by 4-quinolones at the same concentration and hyperinduced at higher concentrations. Thus the effects are very contradictory. Increased IL-2 may contribute to CNS side effects.

Ciprofloxacin↗

Photoproduct frequency is not the major determinant of UV base substitution hot spots or cold spots in human cells.

The role of UV radiation-induced photoproducts in initiating base substitution mutations in human cells was examined by measuring photoproduct frequency distributions and mutations in a supF tRNA gene on a shuttle vector plasmid transfected into DNA repair-deficient cells (xeroderma pigmentosum, complementation group A) and into normal cells. Frequencies of cyclobutane dimers and pyrimidine-pyrimidone (6-4) photoproducts varied by as much as 80-fold at different dipyrimidine sites within the gene. All transition mutations occurred at dipyrimidine sites, predominantly at cytosine, with a 17-fold variation in mutation frequency between different sites. Removal of greater than 99% of the cyclobutane dimers by in vitro photoreactivation before transfection reduced the mutation frequency while preserving the mutation distribution, indicating that (i) cytosine-containing cyclobutane dimers were the major mutagenic lesions at these sites and (ii) cytosine-containing non-cyclobutane dimer photoproducts were also mutagenic lesions. However, at individual dipyrimidine sites neither the frequency of cyclobutane dimers nor the frequency of pyrimidine-pyrimidone (6-4) photoproducts correlated with the mutation frequency, even in the absence of excision repair. Mutation hot spots occurred at sites with low or high frequency of photoproduct formation and mutation cold spots occurred at sites with many photoproducts. These results suggest that although photoproducts are required for UV mutagenesis, the prominence of most mutation hot spots and cold spots is primarily determined by DNA structural features rather than by the frequency of DNA photoproducts.

Base Sequence↗

Multiple point mutations in a shuttle vector propagated in human cells: evidence for an error-prone DNA polymerase activity.

Mutagenesis was studied at the DNA-sequence level in human fibroblast and lymphoid cells by use of a shuttle vector plasmid, pZ189, containing a suppressor tRNA marker gene. In a series of experiments, 62 plasmids were recovered that had two to six base substitutions in the 160-base-pair marker gene. Approximately 20-30% of the mutant plasmids that were recovered after passing ultraviolet-treated pZ189 through a repair-proficient human fibroblast line contained these multiple mutations. In contrast, passage of ultraviolet-treated pZ189 through an excision-repair-deficient (xeroderma pigmentosum) line yielded only 2% multiple base substitution mutants. Introducing a single-strand nick in otherwise unmodified pZ189 adjacent to the marker, followed by passage through the xeroderma pigmentosum cells, resulted in about 66% multiple base substitution mutants. The multiple mutations were found in a 160-base-pair region containing the marker gene but were rarely found in an adjacent 170-base-pair region. Passing ultraviolet-treated or nicked pZ189 through a repair-proficient human B-cell line also yielded multiple base substitution mutations in 20-33% of the mutant plasmids. An explanation for these multiple mutations is that they were generated by an error-prone polymerase while filling gaps. These mutations share many of the properties displayed by mutations in the immunoglobulin hypervariable regions.

Antibody Diversity↗

Psoralen adducts in a shuttle vector plasmid propagated in primate cells: high mutagenicity of DNA cross-links.

A Simian virus 40-driven shuttle vector plasmid (pZ189) was treated with 8-methoxypsoralen plus a split dose of long-wavelength UV (UVA) radiation in order for a large number of psoralen cross-links, as compared with monoadducts, to be formed in the plasmid DNA. The shuttle vector was then transfected into monkey Vero or human Raji cells. Plasmids replicated in the primate host cell were extracted 2 days later and analysed for mutations in the vector suppressor tRNA (supF) gene. A spontaneous mutation frequency of 0.7 X 10(-3) was 15-fold elevated in vectors exposed to psoralen plus two UVA irradiations. Most of these mutations were considered to be dependent on DNA cross-link adducts, since psoralen plus only a single UVA dose (producing mainly monoadducts) did not appreciably affect the mutation rate. DNA sequence analysis revealed a hot spot at an AT repeat constituting a potential site for psoralen cross-link formation, whereas the second hot spot noted did not contain any sequence where psoralen adduct formation is likely to occur. Since the AT repeat hot spot was not represented in previous studies with pZ189 exposed to other genotoxic agents, the results indicate that a specific mutational pattern may be resulting from induction of DNA cross-links.

Animals↗

Effects of ciprofloxacin on eucaryotic pyrimidine nucleotide biosynthesis and cell growth.

Several of the new 4-quinolones significantly increase the incorporation of [3H]thymidine into the DNA of mitogen-stimulated human lymphocytes. This study suggests that ciprofloxacin inhibits de novo pyrimidine biosynthesis, thereby resulting in a compensatory increase in the uptake of pyrimidine precursors through salvage pathways, and that additional effects may affect eucaryotic cell growth. Incorporation of deoxyuridine, uridine, and orotic acid as well as thymidine was increased in the presence of ciprofloxacin, one of the antibacterially most active of the new 4-quinolones. In contrast, the uptake was decreased in very high concentrations of the drug. Culture in HAT (hypoxanthine, aminopterine, thymidine) medium, which blocks de novo thymidylate synthesis, abrogated the increase in [3H]thymidine incorporation induced by ciprofloxacin. Ciprofloxacin also failed to increase the uptake of [14C]hypoxanthine or leucine, indicating a selective effect on pyrimidine and not on purine nucleotide biosynthesis. N-(Phosphonacetyl)-L-aspartate, an inhibitor of pyrimidine nucleotide biosynthesis, also increased [3H]thymidine incorporation in phytohemagglutinin-stimulated lymphocytes in a fashion similar to ciprofloxacin. The growth of several cell lines was partially inhibited by ciprofloxacin at 20 micrograms/ml and completely inhibited at 80 to 160 micrograms/ml. Growth inhibition by ciprofloxacin could not be restored by the addition of uridine to the medium. Chromosome breaks, gene amplification, or other genetic alterations could not be detected in human lymphocytes incubated with up to 25 micrograms of ciprofloxacin per ml.

Animals↗