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*
Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, CO 80262; and
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Denver, Denver, CO 80208
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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The antiproliferative effects of cigarette smoke constituents may
contribute to suppressed cell-mediated immune responses in the lungs of
smokers. We have shown that hydroquinone
(HQ)3 and catechol
(Fig. 1
), which are produced in microgram
quantities from the pyrolysis of tobacco flavinoids, block
IL-2-dependent proliferation of primary human T lymphocytes (HTL) and
prevent their progression through S-phase of the cell cycle
(8). Specifically, exposure of HTL in vitro to 50 µM HQ
or catechol instantaneously blocks DNA synthesis by >90% with no loss
in viability. The effect of catechol, which is a known iron chelator,
can be completely blocked by the addition of
FeCl3 (9). The antiproliferative
effect of HQ has also been demonstrated in the human Jurkat T cell line
and can be reversed by overexpression of the M2 subunit of
ribonucleotide reductase (10). These observations provide
strong evidence to suggest that cigarette tar might block lymphocyte
proliferation by inhibiting ribonucleotide reductase.
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| Materials and Methods |
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All chemicals were purchased from Sigma (St. Louis, MO) and
dissolved in sterile PBS. The structures and reduction potentials of
the phenolic chemicals used are illustrated in Fig. 1
. Cigarette tar
extracts were prepared by "smoking" a single cigarette into 10 ml
RPMI 1640 via a vacuum pump at 125 ml/min. In these studies low- and
high-tar cigarettes were represented by filtered Carlton (Brown and
Williamson Tobacco, Louisville, KY; 0.1 mg tar and 1 mg nicotine per
cigarette) and unfiltered Camel (R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Winston-Salem,
NC; 26 mg tar and 1.7 mg nicotine per cigarette), respectively.
Cell culture and analysis of DNA synthesis
Jurkat T cells were cultured in complete medium, which consisted of RPMI 1640 (Life Technologies, Rockville, MD) supplemented with 10% FBS (Mediatech, Herndon, VA), 50 U/ml penicillin, 50 µg/ml streptomycin, and 25 µg/ml gentamicin. To ensure that cells were in exponential growth, media were changed 24 h before all experiments. Cells were grown to a final density of 1.5 x 106 cells/ml. DNA synthesis was measured by culturing cells in 96-well plates with or without various agents for 1 h, then pulsed with 1 µCi/well [3H]TdR for 2 h. Cells were harvested onto glass fiber filters using a cell harvester (Harvester 96; Tomtec, Orange, CT) and radioactivity was quantitated by liquid scintillation spectroscopy.
Quantification of phenolic compounds in cigarette smoke extracts
Cigarette tar extracts were prepared as above and filtered through 0.45 µm filters. Samples (100 µl) were analyzed by reverse-phase C18 HPLC using a 4.6 x 150 mm symmetry C18 column (Waters, Milford, MA) and a 4.6 x 12.5 mm Eclipse XDB-C18 guard column (Hewlitt Packard, Palo Alto, CA) monitored by an electrochemical detector (7 mV) (16). Peaks representing HQ and catechol were identified at 6 min and 13 min, respectively, and the area under the curve was quantitated using HQ and catechol standards and Millennium software (Waters).
Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) analysis of packed cell pellets
Jurkat T cells (3 x 108) were
harvested and packed by centrifugation for 5 min at 500 x
g in 4 mm (outside diameter) quartz EPR tubes, which were
subsequently frozen and stored in liquid nitrogen. The overall time
taken for spinning and freezing was less than 20 min. EPR spectra were
recorded at 93° K using a E9 spectrometer (Varian Associates, Palo
Alto, CA) and a TE102 resonator. The microwave
power was 150 mW, the microwave frequency was 9.10 GHz, and the
modulation amplitude was 0.5 mT. Some samples were also analyzed at
50° K using a Bruker E580 spectrometer with microwave power of 28 mW
and a microwave frequency of 9.56 GHz. The absolute tyrosyl radical
concentration in untreated Jurkat cells was determined at 93° K by
comparison with a 1 mM stable nitroxyl radical standard. For tyrosyl
radicals and catechol:iron chelates, the characteristic g
values were determined according to the formula g =
h
/ßB1, where h =
Plancks constant,
is the microwave power, ß = the Bohr
magneton, and B1 is the magnetic field.
| Results |
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Previous studies implicating inhibition of ribonucleotide reductase by HQ and catechol used both HTL and transformed lymphocytes. For these studies, the Jurkat T cell line was selected to accommodate the requirement for greater than 108 rapidly dividing cells for each EPR sample, because only cells expressing very high levels of M2 subunit display detectable EPR signals. Thus, to demonstrate the antiproliferative effects of cigarette tar and its phenolic constituents on Jurkat T cells, [3H]thymidine uptake was measured in cells treated for 1 h with cigarette tar, HQ, or catechol. Water-soluble extracts were prepared by smoking a single cigarette into 10 ml RPMI 1640 via a vacuum pump at 125 ml/min. High-tar extracts (unfiltered Camel) were more potent inhibitors of DNA synthesis than low-tar extracts. At a dose of 1 cigarette/20 ml (1.5 x 106 cells/ml), the low-tar extract (filtered Carlton) inhibited DNA synthesis by greater than 85% (4,966 ± 827 cpm) relative to untreated cells (37,707 ± 675 cpm). However, high tar extracts inhibited thymidine incorporation to a similar degree at doses as low as 1 cigarette/100 ml (4,377 ± 814 cpm). HQ and catechol also inhibited DNA synthesis in a dose-dependent manner. At 40 µM, HQ or catechol inhibited [3H]thymidine uptake by 7080% (11,067 ± 665 cpm and 6,750 ± 264 cpm, respectively). In contrast, 40 µM phenol and 1 mM nicotine had no effect on DNA synthesis.
Detection of M2 tyrosyl radical and effects of cigarette tar extracts
To identify the effects of cigarette tar on the M2 subunit, we
analyzed the EPR signal of the tyrosyl radical in Jurkat T cells. EPR
detects the absorption of electromagnetic radiation by unpaired
electrons, such as the tyrosyl radical present in the M2 subunit. The
amount of tyrosyl radical, which is directly proportional to
ribonucleotide reductase activity, was determined from the peak height
of the characteristic g = 2.005 EPR signal. This EPR signal
has been measured previously in frozen cell pellets of a variety of
mammalian cell lines (17, 18, 19). Packed Jurkat T cells
exhibited a g = 2.005 EPR spectrum at 50° K similar
to the previously reported tyrosyl signals of other human leukemic cell
lines (14, 15). The tyrosyl signal was also detectable at
93° K with equal reliability with an absolute intensity 0.2 µM.
(Fig. 2
). Thus, representative samples
were analyzed at 50° K, but the loss of the tyrosyl radical was
measured predominantly at 93° K.
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The concentrations of HQ and catechol in the cigarette smoke extracts were determined by reverse-phase HPLC monitored by an electrochemical detector (7 mV) in series with a UV-detector (16). High-tar extracts contained 12 µM HQ and 14 µM catechol, while the levels of HQ and catechol in low-tar extracts were below detection limits (1 µM) of this system. These results indicate that the dose of cigarette extract that quenches the tyrosyl radical contains levels of HQ and catechol that are known to inhibit DNA synthesis (8, 9, 10).
Effects of phenolic compounds on M2 protein tyrosyl radical
The effects of the phenolic tar constituents on the tyrosyl
radical of M2 protein were determined by treating Jurkat T cells with
HQ, catechol, or phenol for 5 min and then freezing the cells in liquid
nitrogen. The effect of nicotine, another putative immunomodulatory
component of cigarette smoke, was also determined. Complete
disappearance of the tyrosyl radical was observed in Jurkat T cells
treated with 40 µM HQ or catechol (Fig. 3
) and was identical with the effect of
the known quenching agent, hydroxyurea (data not shown). Phenol (40
µM) had only a modest effect on the amplitude of the tyrosyl radical
signal, and 1 mM nicotine had no effect (Fig. 3
). These results suggest
that inhibition of ribonucleotide reductase by HQ and catechol involves
direct transfer of a reducing equivalent (electron or hydrogen radical)
to a preformed tyrosyl radical in the M2 subunit. This proposed
mechanism is supported by the direct correlation between the reduction
potentials of HQ, catechol, and phenol (459 mV, 530 mV, 800 mV,
respectively; Ref. 20) and their effects on the tyrosyl
radical.
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In addition to being a reducing agent, catechol functions as an iron chelator (22). The inhibitory effects of other iron chelators have been attributed to a passive removal of iron from the medium, which prevents regeneration of the iron-radical center, rather than to an active removal of iron from the center of the protein (14, 15). To determine whether catechol inhibited ribonucleotide reductase activity by chelating iron or by quenching the radical directly, we investigated the kinetics of iron chelation by catechol in Jurkat T cells by measuring the EPR signal at g = 4.3, which detects low m.w. iron chelates from various intracellular sources. The appearance of the catechol:iron complex was measured in the same samples used to measure tyrosyl radical content. Although a clear g = 4.3 signal was detected in cells treated with 40 µM catechol for 2 h, the catechol:iron chelate could not be detected in significant quantities following a 5-min exposure. These results suggest that while long term exposure to catechol may be associated with loss of iron from the M2 subunit, disappearance of the tyrosyl radical following short term exposure to catechol is due to quenching of the radical itself.
| Discussion |
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The level of HQ and catechol in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid following cigarette smoke inhalation has not yet been determined. However, Hecht et al. (23) have shown that the typical smoker receives >100 µg HQ and catechol per cigarette. At a rate of 1.5 packs of cigarettes per day, this level of smoke would deliver sufficient HQ and catechol to produce 20 ml of 40 µM solutions every 30 min. Because the volume of fluid in the lungs is relatively small, it is likely that doses required for inhibition of M2 protein could be delivered by as few as two to three cigarettes, depending on tar content, and that lymphocytes may not have sufficient time to recover before a subsequent exposure.
Cigarette smoke contains HQ and catechol in roughly equal concentrations, and both clearly contribute to the antiproliferative effects of high-tar cigarette tar extracts. The high-tar extracts used in these studies contained 12 and 14 µM HQ and catechol, respectively, either of which can result in inhibition of 60% of the tyrosyl radical. Together, these levels of HQ and catechol alone can account for quenching of the radical following exposure to high-tar extracts, especially because the inhibitory effects on the M2 subunit were abolished when high-tar extracts were diluted 10-fold (data not shown). Notable however, is the level of quenching of the radical and inhibition of DNA synthesis by exposure to low-tar extracts containing only minimal amounts of HQ and catechol. Although it is likely that cigarette extracts contain additional reductants that are capable of inactivating the M2 subunit, none can be measured by reverse phase HPLC monitored by electrochemical detectors. One such agent may be NO, which is generated in cigarette smoke at levels up to 600 µg/cigarette, and has been shown to quench the tyrosyl radical in M2 protein (24).
The data presented here provide a molecular basis for inactivation of
the M2 subunit by HQ and catechol. Other pharmacologic agents that
interfere with nucleotide biosynthesis, such as brequinar, mizoribine,
and mycophenolate mofetil, have proved to be potent inhibitors of T
cell responses. Although it is tempting to conclude that the
antiproliferative effects of HQ and catechol are limited to inhibition
of this enzyme, the potency of these phenolic compounds suggest that
they modify additional pathways in lymphocytes. Indeed, HQ has been
shown to inhibit activation of the transcription factor NF-
B and
production of the T cell growth factor, IL-2 (25, 26).
However, these effects cannot explain how low-tar cigarette smoke
extracts, which contain minimal HQ or catechol and have little effect
on the M2 subunit, also inhibit DNA synthesis. Preliminary studies in
our laboratory indicate that cigarette smoke extracts block the
G1 to S-phase transition, independent of their
effects on ribonucleotide reductase. We are currently investigating the
mechanisms of this cell cycle disruption following exposure to tobacco
toxicants and its subsequent effects on lymphocyte proliferation.
Tobacco exposure has been implicated in disruption of the normal pathways of cell cycle control, which may affect both immune competence and tumor progression (27, 28). The potential effects of exposure to HQ or catechol cell cycle entry and progression have yet to be determined. However, HQ and catechol are known tumor promoters and have been shown to increase lung tumor invasiveness and metastasis in animal models (23, 29, 30). Recent reports suggest that both the M1 and M2 subunits of ribonucleotide reductase participate in cellular functions that are important for determining malignant potential (31, 32), and aberrant levels of ribonucleotide reductase expression and enzyme activity have been reported in human tumors (33, 34, 35). Additionally, HQ and catechol are highly redox active, which leads to the formation of reactive oxygen species, oxidative stress, and DNA damage (36, 37). Thus, HQ and catechol may provide a selective advantage to malignant cells by promoting tumor cell growth and suppressing the immune response to those cells.
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| Footnotes |
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2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Brian Freed, Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, University of Colorado Health Science Center, 4200 East 9th Avenue B-164, Denver, CO 80262. ![]()
3 Abbreviations used in this paper: HQ; hydroquinone; HTL, human T lymphocytes; EPR, electron paramagnetic resonance; K, Kelvin. ![]()
Received for publication May 30, 2000. Accepted for publication September 15, 2000.
| References |
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B in primary human CD4+ T lymphocytes. Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol. 149:178.[Medline]
, and TNF-
production by cigarette smoke extracts. J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 106:280.[Medline]
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