Intestinal carcinogenesis of two food processing contaminants, 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, in transgenic FVB min mice expressing human sulfotransferases.

Humans express sulfotransferases (SULTs) of the SULT1A subfamily in many tissues, whilst the single SULT1A gene present in rodents is mainly expressed in liver. The food processing contaminants, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP), are bioactivated by human SULT1A1 and SULT1A2. FVB multiple intestinal neoplasia (Min) mice, which spontaneously develop tumors and flat aberrant crypt foci (ACF) in intestine, were crossed with transgenic FVB mice expressing human SULT1A1 and 1A2 (hSULT) in several tissues, giving rise to wild-type and Min mice with and without hSULT. One-week-old Min mice with or without hSULT were given HMF (375 or 750 mg/kg bw) or saline by gavage three times a week for 11 wk. In another experiment, the F1 generation received subcutaneous injections of 50 mg/kg bw PhIP or saline 1 wk before birth, and 1, 2, and 3 wk after birth. HMF did not affect the formation of tumors, but may have induced some flat ACF (incidence 15-20%) in Min mice with and without hSULT. No control mouse developed any flat ACF. With the limitation that these putative effects were weak, they were unaffected by hSULT expression. The carcinogenic effect of PhIP increased in the presence of hSULT, with a significant increase in both incidence (31-80%) and number of colonic tumors (0.4-1.3 per animal). Thus, intestinal expression of human SULT1A1 and 1A2 might increase the susceptibility to compounds bioactivated via this pathway implying that humans might be more susceptible than conventional rodent models.