UNLABELLED: Exposure to the plant nephrotoxin and carcinogen aristolochic acid (AA) leads to the development of AA nephropathy, Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) and upper urothelial carcinoma (UUC) in humans. Beside AA, exposure to ochratoxin A (OTA) was linked to BEN. Although OTA was rejected as a factor for BEN/UUC, there is still no information whether the development of AA-induced BEN/UUC is influenced by OTA exposure. Therefore, we studied the influence of OTA on the genotoxicity of AA (AA-DNA adduct formation) in vivo. AA-DNA adducts were formed in liver and kidney of rats treated with AA or AA combined with OTA, but no OTA-related DNA adducts were detectable in rats treated with OTA alone or OTA combined with AA. Compared to rats treated with AA alone, AA-DNA adduct levels were 5.4- and 1.6-fold higher in liver and kidney, respectively, of rats treated with AA combined with OTA. Although AA and OTA induced NAD(P)H: quinone oxidoreductase (NQO1) activating AA to DNA adducts, their combined treatment did not lead to either higher NQO1 enzyme activity or higher AA-DNA adduct levels in ex vivo incubations. Oxidation of AA I (8-methoxy-6-nitrophenanthro[3,4-d]-1,3-dioxole-5-carboxylic acid) to its detoxification metabolite, 8-hydroxyaristolochic acid, was lower in microsomes from rats treated with AA and OTA, and this was paralleled by lower activities of cytochromes P450 1A1/2 and/or 2C11 in these microsomes. Our results indicate that a decrease in AA detoxification after combined exposure to AA and OTA leads to an increase in AA-DNA adduct formation in liver and kidney of rats.

Analytical and Environmental Sciences Division MRC PHE Centre for Environmental and Health King's College London 150 Stamford Street London SE1 9NH UK

Department of Biochemistry Faculty of Science Charles University Albertov 2030 128 40 Prague 2 Czech Republic

Division of Preventive Oncology National Center for Tumor Diseases German Cancer Research Center Im Neuenheimer Feld 280 69120 Heidelberg Germany

Division of Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry Im Neuenheimer Feld 280 69120 Heidelberg Germany

References provided by Crossref.org

Co-Exposure to Aristolochic Acids I and II Increases DNA Adduct Formation Responsible for Aristolochic Acid I-Mediated Carcinogenicity in Rats

Balkan endemic nephropathy: an update on its aetiology

Induction of cytochromes P450 1A1 and 1A2 suppresses formation of DNA adducts by carcinogenic aristolochic acid I in rats in vivo

A Mechanism of O-Demethylation of Aristolochic Acid I by Cytochromes P450 and Their Contributions to This Reaction in Human and Rat Livers: Experimental and Theoretical Approaches

Pulmonary Inflammation Impacts on CYP1A1-Mediated Respiratory Tract DNA Damage Induced by the Carcinogenic Air Pollutant Benzo[a]pyrene