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Biomedical subjects

M Sorsa

Publications and source records attributed to M Sorsa.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1992

Metabolic cytochrome P450 genotypes and assessment of individual susceptibility to lung cancer.

Three polymorphic cytochrome P450 genes that have attracted interest for their potential role in human pulmonary carcinogenesis, i.e. CYP1A1, CYP2D6 and CYP2E1, were studied in a population consisting of 106 lung cancer patients and 122 healthy controls. Polymorphism of the CYP2D6 gene encoding for debrisoquine hydroxylase was determined using XbaI restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis together with a PCR based method. All of the three most common presently known defective alleles of CYP2D6 were detected by this application. Subjects having genotypes either homozygous or heterozygous for the CYP2D6 wild type alleles were classified as extensive metabolizers (EMs) of debrisoquine whereas poor metabolizers (PMs) had two defective alleles. The PM individuals are thought to be less prone to develop lung cancer. The CYP1A1 and CYP2E1 genes were studied by RFLP analyses using Msp I and Dra I restriction enzymes, respectively, giving rise to two different sized hybridizable fragments in Southern blot analyses. In these RFPL analyses genotypes homozygous to the mutated allele have been presented as potent determinants of individual lung cancer risk. In the present study no association between polymorphic CYP1A1 and CYP2E1 genotypes and susceptibility to lung cancer was found. However, CYP2D6 polymorphism studies of the 122 healthy controls revealed seven poor metabolizer genotypes (5.7%), which compares well with the previously observed phenotypic distribution in the Finnish population, whereas only one PM genotype (1/106) was found among the lung cancer patients. These results agree with the previous suggestions that PMs of debrisoquine are less susceptible to lung cancer than EMs.

Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A1↗
PubMed1992

Human cytogenetic damage as a predictor of cancer risk.

The human cytogenetic assays presently available for biomonitoring are still inadequate for use in routine surveillance procedures and they must be applied with care. Knowledge of the effects of the agents concerned in experimental systems is a prerequisite, and confounding factors should be assessed. Consequently, the methods are useful and informative under carefully selected conditions and can indicate agents and exposures that are capable of causing chromosomal damage in humans, hinting at possible human cancer risk. Established and potential human carcinogens have frequently been shown to induce chromosomal aberrations in humans in vivo. It is also well documented that chromosomal rearrangements play an important role in the development of neoplasia. These combined lines of evidence suggest that structural chromosomal aberration in vivo has advantages over other cytogenetic end-points in predicting potential human cancer risk. Preliminary findings in a prospective follow-up study suggest that subjects with a high percentage of structural chromosomal aberrations but not sister chromatid exchanges may be at elevated risk for cancer.

Chromosomes↗
PubMed1991

Induction of micronuclei and anaphase aberrations by cytochalasin B in human lymphocyte cultures.

The frequency of micronucleated cells in isolated 72-h human lymphocyte cultures treated with cytochalasin B (Cyt-B; 1.5-6 micrograms/ml for the last 28 h) was 9-21 times higher (mean 14.6 times) among multinucleate than binucleate cells. At 3 micrograms/ml, the concentration of Cyt-B originally recommended for the human lymphocyte micronucleus assay, the frequency of micronucleated multinucleate cells was 8.5%, while 0.7% of the binucleate cells had a micronucleus. Although no dose-dependent induction of micronuclei could be observed for either of the cell types, increase in the concentration of Cyt-B was associated with a decrease in the ratio of multinucleate to binucleate cells. Treatment with Cyt-B (1.5-12 micrograms/ml) increased the frequency of anaphase cells with aberrations, especially lagging chromatids. This finding was explained by a dose-dependent increase in multipolar (greater than or equal to 3 poles) divisions which had a high frequency of anaphase aberrations (39-53%), irrespective of the concentration of Cyt-B. Bipolar anaphases did not show a significant increase in aberrant cells, although a suggestive dependence on the concentration of Cyt-B was observed. The findings indicate that the high frequency of micronuclei in multinucleate lymphocytes produced by Cyt-B is due to mitotic errors arising when bi- (and multi-) nuclear cells divide. To avoid possible artifactually high micronucleus frequencies due to inclusion of cells that have divided greater than or equal to 2 times in the presence of Cyt-B, it is recommended that, in the human lymphocyte micronucleus assay using the cytokinesis-block method, the cell culture time is reduced to minimize the frequency of such cells and that only good preparations and regularly shaped binucleates are included in the analysis.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

1,3-Butadiene and its epoxides induce sister-chromatid exchanges in human lymphocytes in vitro.

Sister-chromatid exchanges (SCEs) were induced in human lymphocytes by 1,3-butadiene and its epoxides 3,4-epoxy-1-butene and 1,2:3,4-diepoxybutane. After a pulse treatment of 2 h, 1,3-butadiene produced a weak but reproducible increase in SCEs both with and without S9 mix. The response was similar in cultures of whole blood and of isolated lymphocytes. The 2 epoxide metabolites of butadiene, studied in whole-blood lymphocyte cultures without exogenous metabolic activation, were highly active SCE inducers. The lowest effective concentrations of butadiene, monoepoxybutene, and diepoxybutane were 2000 microM, 25 microM and 0.5 microM, respectively. A slight but dose-dependent increase in SCEs was also observed without an exogenous metabolic system after a 48-h treatment with 1,3-butadiene. Already the lowest concentration tested (500 microM) was effective. Again, the response was similar in cultures of whole blood and isolated lymphocytes, suggesting that the lymphocytes are capable of metabolically activating 1,3-butadiene.

Butadienes↗
PubMed1991

Sister-chromatid exchanges induced by 1.3-butadiene and its epoxides in CHO cells.

Sister-chromatid exchanges (SCEs) were analyzed in CHO cells after pulse treatment with 1,3-butadiene, 3,4-epoxy-1-butene (monoepoxybutene) and 1,2:3,4-diepoxybutane (diepoxybutane). A weak dose effect was observed after exposure to 1,3-butadiene but only in the presence of S9 mix. Monoepoxybutene and diepoxybutane were highly effective in inducing SCEs at concentrations of 0.1-1 microM both in the presence and in the absence of S9 mix. At higher concentrations the response was more pronounced without S9 mix.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Determination of 6-thioguanine resistant lymphocytes in human blood by immunohistochemical antibromodeoxyuridine staining.

An immunohistochemical method for the determination of 6-thioguanine resistant (TGr) lymphocytes in human blood samples has been developed. The new technique is a modification of the autoradiographic assay and uses labelling of DNA synthesizing cells by bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) instead of tritiated thymidine. The label is detected immunohistochemically by using a monoclonal antibody against BrdU in single-stranded DNA. Thawed cryopreserved isolated mononuclear cells are cultured with (TG cultures) and without (control cultures) TG for 40 h, the last 16 h with BrdU. The cells are harvested, fixed and put on microscopic slides; for the TG cultures, all material is used, while slides from the control culture are prepared at a dilution of 1:300. The immunohistochemical staining of the slides involves denaturation of DNA in formamide, incubation with anti-BrdU-DNA antibody, followed by a secondary antibody conjugated with peroxidase and staining with diaminobenzidine. Nuclei that have incorporated BrdU appear brown while all other material remains unstained. The number of all labelled nuclei is scored similarly in control and TG slides and the frequency of TGr lymphocytes is obtained by dividing the number of labelled nuclei in TG slides with that (multiplied by the dilution factor) in control slides. The anti-BrdU method will much simplify and speed up the microscopical evaluation of the TG variants and is very suitable for automation.

Bromodeoxyuridine↗
PubMed1991

Styrene revisited--exposure assessment and risk estimation in reinforced plastics industry.

A survey performed in 32 workshops in reinforced plastics industry showed the mean TWA 8 h concentration of styrene in personal air to be 43 ppm (range 5-182 ppm) among laminators and 11 ppm (range 1-133 ppm) among other workers. The biological measurement of urinary mandelic acid + phenylglyoxylic acid showed mean values of 2.4 mmol/l among laminators without respirators and 1.3 mmol/l when respirators were used. No effects of work related exposure were detected in the cytogenetic parameters, chromosome aberrations, sister chromatid exchanges or micronuclei analyzed in peripheral blood lymphocytes. Grading of the exposure on the basis of lamination method, years of exposure, daily laminating time, air styrene concentration and urinary mandelic acid among laminators, neither revealed any dose dependency.

Air Pollutants, Occupational↗
PubMed1990

Cytogenetic surveillance of workers exposed to genotoxic chemicals: preliminary experiences from a prospective cancer study in a cytogenetic cohort.

Cytogenetic endpoints, conventionally chromosomal aberrations, and later sister chromatid exchanges and micronuclei have long been used to assess exposure of human populations to genotoxic agents. Although the adverse nature of somatic chromosome damage is recognized at the group level, no ill-health manifestations have been causally related to cytogenetic damage at the individual level. In work-related exposures, e.g., ethylene oxide, styrene, benzene, vinyl chloride, and alkylating anticancer agents have been shown to induce somatic chromosomal damage in several studies. For all of these, a carcinogenic risk to humans has also been documented. The possible association of somatic chromosome damage and cancer will be elucidated in a Nordic prospective study. The objective is to find out the significance of a high or low score in any of the cytogenetic parametres to risk of cancer. In the Finnish part of the cohort of 806 individuals, 10 cases of cancer were observed during the first follow-up period. Although the cohort is young and the numbers small, a slightly significant (P = 0.04) trend was observed for individuals with cancer and a score of chromosomal aberrations. No trend was observed for sister chromatid exchanges. The application of cytogenetic surveillance is still not routine methodology, but it is useful and informative in carefully controlled study designs. Special efforts should be directed toward combining different disciplines, i.e., cytogenetics, adduct monitoring, and end-effect epidemiology, in order to reach quantitativeness in risk assessment.

Carcinogens↗
PubMed1990

Importance of exposure to gaseous and particulate phase components of tobacco smoke in active and passive smokers.

The uptake of tobacco smoke constituents from gaseous and particulate phases of mainstream smoke (MS), inhaled by smokers, and of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), breathed in by non-smokers, was investigated in two experimental studies. Tobacco smoke uptake was quantified by measuring carboxyhemoglobin (COHb), nicotine and cotinine in plasma and urine and the data obtained were correlated with urinary excretion of thioethers and of mutagenic activity. An increase in all biochemical parameters was observed in smokers inhaling the complete MS of 24 cigarettes during 8 h, whereas only an increase in COHb and, to a minor degree, in urinary thioethers was found after smoking the gas phase of MS under similar conditions. Exposure of non-smokers to the gaseous phase of ETS or to whole ETS at similar high concentrations for 8 h led to identical increases in COHb, plasma nicotine and cotinine as well as urinary excretion of nicotine and thioethers which were much lower than in smokers. Urinary mutagenicity was not found to be elevated under either ETS exposure condition. As shown by our results, the biomarkers most frequently used for uptake of tobacco smoke (nicotine and cotinine) indicate on the one hand the exposure to particulate phase constituents in smoking but on the other hand the exposure to gaseous phase constituents in passive smoking. Particle exposure during passive smoking seems to be low and a biomarker which indicates ETS particle exposure is as yet not available. These findings emphasize that risk extrapolations from active smoking to passive smoking which are based on cigarette equivalents or the use of one biomarker (e.g. cotinine) might be misleading.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Interaction of Mesna (2-mercaptoethane sulfonate) with the mutagenicity of cyclophosphamide in vitro and in vivo.

The effects of sodium 2-mercaptoethane sulfonate (Mesna) on the mutagenicity of cyclophosphamide (CP) were assessed in vitro by the Ames test and in vivo in rats by analyzing micronuclei in bone marrow and mutagenic activity in urine. Mesna alone was negative in all test systems, while CP gave a positive response in all of them. In a combined treatment there was no significant reduction of the CP-induced mutagenicity in Salmonella. In rats the frequency of bone marrow micronuclei was not diminished when Mesna was given together with CP. May-Grunwald-Giemsa staining and Hoechst-Pyronin fluorescent staining techniques for micronuclei yielded similar results. The urine of rats treated with CP was mutagenic to Salmonella and no significant difference was observed when the rats had received both Mesna and CP. The results give support to the theory that Mesna acts primarily by reducing the toxicity of metabolites of CP, particularly acrolein, in the urinary tract and not by suppressing the mutagenicity of the active metabolites of CP.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Exposure assessment of workers in the production of cyclophosphamide.

Cyclophosphamide (CP) is an experimentally well documented mutagen and carcinogen both in vitro and in vivo test systems, and also in humans. It is biotransformed to alkylating metabolites, but also at its manufacture stages includes potent alkylating intermediates. The highest potential exposure during manufacture, detected by chemical analysis of air samples, was found to occur during specific operations at the end of the process, when airborne concentrations of CP may rise up to several hundred micrograms/m3. Mutagenicity measurements of air samples at the beginning of the process revealed direct mutagenicity similar to the CP intermediates. The workers were using supplied air masks, gloves and protective clothing, and no responses in urinary mutagenicity were detected when after-work and after-holiday samples were compared. Also, the cytogenetic parameters such as chromosomal aberrations and sister chromatid exchanges (SCE), did not differ in frequency between the group of workers in the CP production unit and the control group from other units of the same factory.

Air Pollutants, Occupational↗
PubMed1989

Cytogenetic effects of tobacco smoke exposure among involuntary smokers.

Tobacco smoke is highly genotoxic and produces chromosomal damage in several experimental systems. Active smokers have been shown to have an increased prevalence of somatic chromosome damage in their peripheral blood lymphocytes: this is seen in most cases as an increased sister-chromatid exchange (SCE) frequency and often also as increased structural chromosome aberrations (CAs). Among passive smokers, in association with exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, no such induction of chromosomal damage has been documented. In the present paper we report negative results on induction of chromosomal damage in 2 separate groups of intensive involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke, non-smoking restaurant personnel and newborn children of smoking mothers. While significant exposure in these groups is clearly seen in biochemical intake markers, e.g. cotinine and thiocyanate values in plasma, the conventional cytogenetic parameters, structural chromosome aberrations and sister-chromatid exchanges, are unable to detect the low exposures of involuntary smokers.

Cells, Cultured↗
PubMed1988

Evaluation of sister chromatid exchange as an indicator of sensitivity to N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea-induced carcinogenesis in rats.

Sister chromatid exchange (SCE) frequencies in peripheral lymphocytes are a frequently used endpoint to indicate exposures to genotoxins in groups of humans. The aim of this study was to ascertain, in an experimental design, whether or not SCE rates have any association with the risk of cancer at the individual level in rats exposed to a known carcinogen. Individual SCE rates were determined in three consecutive analyses in cultured blood lymphocytes of 50 adult male Wistar rats. Analyses were done before as well as 24 hr and 7 days after a single intraperitoneal administration of 0, 25, 50, or 75 mg/kg of N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU). The animals were followed until death; also, the relationship between SCEs and carcinogenic outcome, i.e., the presence or absence of tumors, and their latency period were examined. ENU significantly decreased the life expectancy of the rats. The tumor types most clearly associated with ENU treatment were various gliomas and thyroid-gland and testicular tumors. ENU induced a moderate (maximally 1.6-fold) increase in the mean frequency of SCEs/cell at both sampling times after treatment. The effect was somewhat more pronounced 1 day rather than 1 week after treatment. The mean SCE rates in rats with ENU-specific cancers or in animals with early or multiple tumors did not differ from those in animals that survived no less than 65 weeks or longer without developing tumors. In ENU-treated animals with tumors, no relationship was found between the mean SCE rate and survival time. It is concluded that in outbred Wistar rats the SCE response in cultured lymphocytes does not indicate individual susceptibility to the carcinogenic action of ENU. On a group basis, however, animals with high SCE rates were shown to have increased risk of cancer.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Biological and environmental monitoring of occupational exposure to cyclophosphamide in industry and hospitals.

The aims of the study were to clarify potential exposure situations to anticancer agents during industrial processing, drug manufacture and hospital administration, using cyclophosphamide (CP) as the model compound. CP is considered an animal and human carcinogen, and it is shown to be an indirect mutagen in various test systems using several genetic endpoints. Environmental monitoring was performed by collecting ambient air samples during the different processing and handling stages. Both stationary and personal sampling was used. CP was analyzed by liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectrometry (MS). The process materials and intermediates were also analyzed for genotoxic activity using the Ames test and SCE induction in CHO cells as endpoints. Biological monitoring studies were performed on 147 persons representing 5 groups of workers, control subjects and patients. In the experimental part of the project, the intermediates in the CP manufacturing process, CP I (nor-nitrogen mustard) and CP II (phosphoroxydichloride mustard) were found directly active in the 2 genotoxicity tests. These findings led to improvements in work hygiene when handling CP I and CP II in the process. The CP measurements showed that the highest potential-exposure sites occurred during specific operations of the process, e.g., during emptying of the drying drum and during tablet mass preparation (the range of CP concentrations in air was 0.16-0.49 mg/m3). The correlation between indirect genotoxicity and chemical analyses of the ambient air samples was good, revealing the activity to be due to cyclophosphamide. However, the air samples were found mutagenic without metabolic activation also in the beginning of the process; this is obviously due to CP II particles in the ambient air, since no CP was detected chemically. The personal protection of workers in the plant collaborating in the study is efficient and the production unit is equipped with the best available techniques to protect both the personnel and the quality of the drug. Both the urine mutagenicity analyses using strain TA1535 of Salmonella typhimurium as indicator and the cytogenetic analyses of peripheral blood lymphocytes using sister-chromatid exchanges or structural chromosomal aberrations as endpoints were negative. However, a statistically nonsignificant trend in increased number of micronuclei was observed in binucleated lymphocytes of the worker groups as compared with controls. The studies on the hospital use of CP were performed in 3 oncological units and 1 pharmacy unit.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Air Pollutants↗
PubMed1988

Ambient monitoring of cyclophosphamide in manufacture and hospitals.

Cyclophosphamide (CP), one of the most commonly used cytostatic drugs, is known to be a human carcinogen. In this study, CP represents a model compound for the identification of potential exposure situations in the various phases of its manufacture and hospital use. Ambient air samples were taken in the various phases and analyzed for CP. A low detection limit (0.05 micrograms/m3 for a 1 m3 sample volume) was obtained for CP using the mass spectrometry method (MS) developed for this study. The detection limit was 1 microgram/m3 with the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. The correlation between the two methods was good. The highest potential exposure situations were found to occur during specific operations at the end of the process. During these operations the airborne CP concentrations may rise as high as several hundred micrograms/m3, and the workers must use supplied-air respirators, gloves and protective clothing. For the measurements in hospital use, air samples were taken from flow hoods. During normal working practices, no measurable amounts of CP could be observed. A filter from a flow hood, however, contained CP in measurable quantities, showing that occasional spilling may occur.

Air Pollutants, Occupational↗