Phenolics: blocking agents for heterocyclic amine-induced carcinogenesis.

Chemopreventive effects of synthetic and naturally occurring antioxidants on heterocyclic amine (HCA)-induced rat carcinogenesis and mechanisms of inhibition were assessed. In a medium-term liver bioassay, combined treatment with 0.03% 2-amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (MeIQx) and synthetic antioxidants such as 1-O-hexyl-2,3,5-trimethylhydroquinone (HTHQ), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxutoluene (BHT), tert-butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) or propyl gallate, each at a dose of 0.25%, inhibited development of preneoplastic glutathione S-transferase placental form (GST-P) positive foci as compared with MeIQx alone, after initiation with diethylnitrosamine (DEN). Of these antioxidants, HTHQ showed the greatest activity. 8-Hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), a marker for DNA damage induced by active oxygen species, and malonedialdehyde and 4-hydroxynonenal levels were not largely influenced by the treatment with MeIQx or antioxidants, either alone or in combination. In the same medium-term liver bioassay, effects of some naturally occurring antioxidants, such as green tea catechins (GTC), hesperidin, chlorogenic acid, quercetin, rutin, curcumin, daidzin, ferulic acid and genistein were also examined. Of these antioxidants, only GTC tended to inhibit GST-P positive foci development, while quercetin, rutin, curcumin, daidzin, ferulic acid and genistein all exerted significant enhancing effects. Examination of HTHQ influence in a medium term liver bioassay with HCA Glu-P-1, in which the experimental period was extended for up to 26 weeks, also demonstrated a significant decrease in the incidence of liver tumours to 40% in the group treated with 0.5% HTHQ and 0.03% 2-amino-6-methyldipyrido[1,2-a:3',2'-d]imidazole (Glu-P-1) as compared with the Glu-P-1 alone value of 89%. Effects of HTHQ on colon carcinogenesis induced by 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) were evaluated in a two-stage colon carcinogenesis model using 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH) as an initiator. At week 36, the multiplicity of colon tumours induced by 0.02% PhIP after DMH initiation (9.1+/-6.2/rat) was dose-dependently decreased by the combined treatment with 0.5% HTHQ (3.6+/-1.8, P < 0.001) and 0.125% HTHQ (6.2+/-3.2, not significant). Similarly, the incidence of mammary carcinomas in female F344 rats induced by oral administration of 0.02% PhIP (40%) for 52 weeks was significantly decreased by simultaneous treatment with 0.5% HTHQ (5%). Alpha-tocopherol and chlorophyllin only reduced the multiplicity of carcinomas. Analysis of the influence of HTHQ on metabolic activation of Glu-P-1 or PhIP after incubation with rat S9 mixture and NADPH by HPLC, revealed that each major metabolite was strongly reduced by the addition of HTHQ. Immunohistochemically detected PhIP-DNA adduct positive nuclei in the colon induced by continuous oral treatment with 0.02% PhIP for 2 weeks decreased by the combined treatment with 0.5 or 0.125% HTHQ. These results indicate that synthetic antioxidant HTHQ is a very strong chemopreventor of heterocyclic amine (HCA)-induced carcinogenesis and that depressed metabolic activation rather than antioxidant activity is responsible for the observed effect.