Study of arsenic mutagenesis using the plasmid shuttle vector pZ189 propagated in DNA repair proficient human cells

Arsenic is considered a human carcinogen and although it is non-mutagenic in bacterial or human cells, arsenic interacts synergistically with genotoxic agents in the production of mutations. To gain insight into the possible mechanisms of action of arsenic in mutagenesis we studied the effects of sodium arsenite exposure on UV mutagenesis using the pZ189 shuttle vector system in DNA repair proficient GM 637 human fibroblasts. The purpose of the study was to determine whether arsenic alone induces mutations in the supF gene and whether the combination of arsenic and UV irradiation leads to a yield of mutants greater than the sum of the arsenic or UV treatments alone. Treatment of fibroblasts for 72 h with 5.0 microM of sodium arsenite alone produced significant increases in the pZ189 mutant frequency; 1 and 2.5 microM arsenite were not mutagenic. UV irradiation (320 J/m2) increased the yield of mutants 3.5-fold above the background rate. When UV-irradiated plasmid was allowed to replicate in fibroblasts treated with 1, 2.5, or 5.0 microM arsenite, the yields of mutations were significantly greater (p < 0.01) than the yield expected if the effects of each treatment were simply additive. The greatest potentiation of UV-induced mutations (4.9-fold) was observed at 1 microM arsenite, a concentration that was neither mutagenic itself nor cytotoxic. Restriction digest and DNA sequencing analyses indicated that arsenite alone produces both large-scale rearrangements, frameshifts and base substitutions. Hotspots for deletions were observed to be associated with a previously reported deletion hotspot involving 5'-CpC and runs of cytosines. Base substitutions observed involved A:T-->T:A transversions. The results indicate that arsenite alone is mutagenic in human cells using the supF reporter gene. The pZ189 shuttle vector may provide a model to study the molecular nature of co-mutagenesis of arsenic and other environmental agents. Further characterization of arsenic's effects on DNA repair and mutational spectra may be useful in the development of molecular markers in studies of arsenic carcinogenesis in human populations.