Iron chelators modulate the production of DNA strand breaks and 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine

The interaction of chelators and reducing agents is of particular importance in understanding iron-associated pathology since catalytic iron undergoes cyclic reduction and oxidation in vivo. Therefore, we treated plasmid DNA with free or chelated Fe(III) in the presence of biological reductants, and simultaneously measured the number of single strand breaks (SSBs) and oxidative base modification (8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine; 8-OHdG) by quantitative gel electrophoresis and HPLC with electrochemical detection, respectively. Production of SSBs and 8-OHdG was linearly correlated suggesting that these two different lesions share a common chemical mechanism. The levels of both lesions were enhanced when Fe(III) was chelated to citrate or nitrilotriacetic acid. Reducing agents showed different potency in inducing DNA damage catalyzed by chelated iron (L-ascorbate > L-cysteine > H2O2). Chelation increased SSB formation by approximately 8-fold and 8-OHdG production by approximately 4-fold. The ratio of SSB/8-OHdG catalyzed by chelated iron, which is twice as high as by unchelated iron, indicates that chelation affects iron-catalyzed oxidative DNA damage in a specific way favoring strand breakage over base modification. Since iron is mostly chelated in biological systems, the production of genomic and mitochondrial DNA damage, particularly strand breaks, in diseases involving iron overload is likely to be higher than previously predicted from studies using unchelated iron.