Transformation related expression of glutathione-S-transferase P in rat liver cells

A neutral isoenzyme of glutathione transferase designated glutathione-S-transferase 7-7, but also referred to as glutathione-S-transferase P (GST-P) is absent from adult rat liver hepatocytes, but expressed at a very early stage in chemically induced in vivo hepatocarcinogenesis. The expression of this enzyme in a range of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) associated hepatocarcinogenic systems has been examined, including in vivo induced preneoplastic and neoplastic liver tissue, cell lines derived from hepatomas, primary hepatocytes in culture and an immortalized rat liver cell line before and after transformation in vitro either by transfection with ras oncogenes or by treatment with metabolically activated AFB1. Analyses of total cytosol proteins using a polyclonal antibody to GST-P did not detect the presence of GST-P protein in cytosols from control or regenerating liver. A low level of expression was detected in the immortalized, non-transformed epithelial cell line, but a greatly induced level occurred subsequent to transformation of these cells by either of the two techniques used. High levels of the protein were detected in in vivo induced preneoplastic and neoplastic tissues, and in the cell lines derived from them. Total RNA fractions isolated from the various cells or tissues, when examined with a cDNA probe for GST-P mRNA, showed it to be absent from control and regenerating rat liver. It was present at low levels in the untransformed cell line and primary hepatocytes after 48 h in culture, but present at greatest abundance in the in vivo and in vitro transformed cells. The results indicate that the highest elevation in expression of this protein is associated with the stage of definitive malignant transformation in in vitro carcinogenesis, and this could have relevance in defining comparable events in the in vivo multistage sequence.