Oxidative DNA damage and repair in a cell lineage model of human proliferative breast disease (PBD).

Oxidative damage to DNA is thought to play a significant role in mutagenesis, aging, and cancer. Sensitivity to oxidative DNA damage and DNA repair efficiency were examined using a series of human breast epithelial cell lines-MCF-10A, MCF-10AT, and MCF-10ATG3B-with progressively elevated Ras protein. Breast epithelial cells were treated with H2O2, in the absence and presence of the DNA-repair inhibitors hydroxyurea (HU) and cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C). DNA strand breaks were assessed by the mean olive tail moment (microm) using the alkaline single-cell gel electrophoresis (Comet) assay. In untreated cells, the mean olive tail moment values were 4.3 +/- 0.7, 8.3 +/- 1.1, and 7.1 +/- 0.6 microm in the MCF-10A, MCF-10AT, and MCF-10ATG3B cells, respectively. Five min H2O2 treatment produced concentration-dependent DNA damage, with the MCF-10A cells most susceptible and the tumorigenic MCF-10ATG3B cells the least susceptible. Treatment with 100 microM H2O2 resulted in approximately 17-, 6-, and 4.5-fold increases in mean olive tail moment values in the MCF-10A, MCF-10AT, and MCF-10ATG3B cells, respectively, compared to untreated cells. The HCC1937 tumor cell line responded in a manner comparable to the MCF-10ATG3B cells treated with H2O2, HU/Ara-C pre-treatment resulted in a approximately 1.5-fold increase in olive tail moment values in all three cell lines. Protein levels of antioxidant enzymes, including catalase, copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn SOD), and manganese SOD (MnSOD) were determined in order to examine a potential mechanism for increased resistance to H2O2-mediated DNA damage. Levels of these enzymes increased progressively, with highest expression in MCF-10ATG3B cells. Increased cellular resistance also coincided with marked decreases in p53 protein levels. These results demonstrate that, in this cell lineage, sensitivity to oxidative DNA damage by H2O2 decreases with tumorigenicity (i.e., MCF-10A vs. MCF-10ATG3B), and show that DNA repair, altered Ras, and p53 expression, or compensatory mechanisms involving elevated antioxidant enzymes are involved in mediating these effects.