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4-aminobiphenyl (4-ABP) is a major etiological agent of human bladder cancer, and its metabolites are able to form DNA adducts that may induce mutation and initiate bladder carcinogenesis. Thirty to sixty percent of human bladder cancer has a mutation in the p53 gene, and the mutational spectrum bears two characteristics: compared with other cancers, the pattern of mutations is more evenly distributed along the p53 gene, and the mutational hotspots occur at both CpG sites, such as codons 175, 248 and 273, and non-CpG sites, such as codons 280 and 285, the latter two being unique mutational hotspots for bladder and other urinary tract cancers. These findings raise the possibility that the special p53 mutational features in human bladder cancer are due to the unique binding spectrum of metabolically activated 4-ABP in bladder cells. To address this question, here we have mapped the 4-ABP-DNA adduct distribution in the p53 gene at the nucleotide sequence level in human bladder cells. We found that, unlike benzo[a]pyrene trans-7,8-dihydrodiol-9,10-epoxide-DNA adduction, which preferentially occurs at CpG sites, 4-ABP-DNA adduction is not biased for CpG sites, and the adducts are more evenly distributed along the p53 gene; nonetheless, the p53 mutational hotspots in bladder cancer at codons 175, 248, 280 and 285 are also the preferential sites for 4-ABP adduct formation. These results strongly suggest that the unique binding spectrum of 4-ABP contributes greatly to the unique mutational spectrum in the p53 gene of human bladder cancer, and provide further molecular evidence to directly link 4-ABP to bladder cancer.

The carcinogenic plant extract aristolochic acid (AA) is thought to be the major causative agent in the development of urothelial carcinomas found in patients with Chinese herb nephropathy (CHN). These carcinomas are associated with overexpression of p53, suggesting that the p53 gene is mutated in CHN-associated urothelial malignancy. To investigate the relation between AA-DNA adduct formation and possible p53 mutations, we mapped the distribution of DNA adducts formed by the two main components of AA, aristolochic acid I (AAI) and aristolochic acid II (AAII) at single nucleotide resolution in exons 5-8 of the human p53 gene in genomic DNA. To this end, an adduct-specific polymerase arrest assay combined with a terminal transferase-dependent PCR (TD-PCR) was used to amplify DNA fragments. AAI and AAII were reacted with human mammary carcinoma (MCF-7) DNA in vitro and the major DNA adducts formed were identified by the (32)P-postlabeling method. These adducted DNAs were used as templates for TD-PCR. Sites at which DNA polymerase progress along the template was blocked were assumed to be at the nucleotide 3' to the adduct. Polymerase arrest spectra thus obtained showed a preference for reaction with purine bases in the human p53 gene for both activated compounds. For both AAs, adduct distribution was not random; the strongest signals were seen at codons 156, 158-159 and 166-167 for exon 5, at codons 196, 198-199, 202, 209, 214-215 and 220 for exon 6, at codons 234-235, 236-237 and 248-249 for exon 7 and at codons 283-284 and 290-291 for exon 8. Overall guanines at CpG sites in the p53 gene that correspond to mutational hotspots observed in many human cancers seem not to be preferential targets for AAI or II. We compared the AA-DNA binding spectrum in the p53 gene with the p53 mutational spectrum of urothelial carcinomas found in the human mutation database. No particular pattern of polymerase arrest was found that predicts AA-specific mutational hotspots in urothelial tumors of the current p53 database. Thus, AA is not a likely cause of non-CHN-related urothelial tumors.

The effects of indomethacin on the urinary bladder and renal pelvis in rats treated with N-[4-(5-nitro-2-furyl)-2-thiazolyl]formamide (FANFT) were studied. Two hundred female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into four groups. Group 1 received control diet without added chemicals. Group 2 was treated with indomethacin (1 mg/kg per day) in the drinking water throughout the experiment. Groups 3 and 4 received 0.2% FANFT in the diet for seven weeks followed by control diet. In addition to FANFT, Group 4 received indomethacin, 1 mg/kg per day, for the entire experiment. The rats were sacrificed after 92 weeks. There were no urothelial tumors in the control group, one renal pelvic tumor in the indomethacin group, 4 tumors in the FANFT group and 10 urothelial tumors in the FANFT + indomethacin group. The difference between Groups 3 and 4 was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Moderate and severe hyperplasia of the renal pelvic and papillary epithelium was found in 15 of 48 rats in Group 2 (indomethacin only) as compared with 6 of 49 control rats (P < 0.05). Moderate and severe hyperplasia was equally frequent in Groups 3 and 4 (14 and 17 animals in each group, respectively). Twenty-four rats in Group 2 had mammary tumors as compared to 12 animals in Group 1 (P < 0.01). Five of the tumors in Group 2 were adenocarcinomas. There was no difference between the number of mammary tumors in Groups 3 and 4 (36 and 32 animals in each group, respectively). The results suggest that indomethacin enhances FANFT-induced urinary tract carcinogenesis. Indomethacin also seems to exert some tumorigenic activity in the mammary gland.

In both male and female Fischer rats, feeding 4-chloro-o-phenylenediamine at 0.5 or 1% in the diet led to a significant increase in hyperplasia, papilloma and carcinoma of the urinary bladder. Neoplastic nodules of the liver and squamous cell papillomas of the stomach were also increased slight. Similar levels of this compound in male and female B6C3F1 mice increased significantly the incidence of hepatocellular adenomas and carcinomas. 4-Chloro-m-phenylenediamine at 0.2 or 0.4% in the diet led to a significant elevation in the incidence of adrenal pheochromocytoma in male rats. At 1 or 2% levels it caused hepatocellular adenoma in female mice. Although the analog, 2-chloro-p-phenylenediamine increased transitional cell hyperplasia of the kidney in both male and female rats, it had no significant neoplastic effect at the 0.15 or 0.3% levels fed.

Female Fischer rats were divided into two groups and fed either basal diet or basal diet containing 0.166% 2-amino-4-(5-nitro-2-furyl) thiazole for 52 weeks followed by basal diet for an additional 16 weeks. Our of the 24 rats fed 2-amino-4-(5-nitro-2-furyl) thiazole, 23 had forestomach tumors, four had fibroadenomas and two had adenocarcinomas in the mammary glands, two had renal pelvic carcinomas, five had papillomas and six had carcinomas in the bladder, and two had cutaneous tumors. None of the 10 rats fed basal diet developed tumors. In another study, two-week-old Fischer rats of both sexes were injected s.c. once a week for the first eight weeks with 2-amino-4-(5-nitro-2-furyl) thiazole at a dose of 10 mg/kg and then 1.4 mg/rat for an additional 46 weeks. The control rats were injected with solvent (dimethyl sulfoxide: water, 1:1) only. The experiment was terminated at the end of 58 weeks. Malignant fibrous histiocytomas were found in five out of eight male rats and four out of 11 female rats, and an angiosarcoma was found in one out of eight male rats injected with 2-amino-4-(5-nitro-2-furyl) thiazole. None of the control rats developed tumors.

Abuse of combination analgesics containing phenacetin, antipyrine (phenazone) and caffeine have been associated with urinary tract tumors. Phenacetin and antipyrine have been shown to be promoters of urinary tract carcinogenesis and antipyrine is also a weak urinary tract carcinogen. Acetaminophen, the main metabolite of phenacetin, is one of the most commonly used analgesics in the USA. In the present study, the dose-related effect on the cell proliferation of the urothelium was evaluated in male Sprague-Dawley rats by autoradiography. Nine groups of twenty, 6-week old rats were treated with 0.5%, 1.0% or 1.5% of acetaminophen, antipyrine or phenacetin in the diet. A tenth group of rats received control diet without added chemicals. Ten rats from each group were killed after each of 6 and 12 weeks of feeding. There was a dose-related increase in the labeling index in the urothelium of the bladder and kidney, particularly after 6 weeks of drug administration. In particular, the 1.0% and 1.5% dose levels of antipyrine and phenacetin showed a marked proliferative effect on the urothelium. In the bladder after 6 weeks, the labeling indices were significantly increased. After 12 weeks, although numerically increased, the indices were not statistically significant. In the renal pelvic urothelium the labeling index was significantly increased in antipyrine and phenacetin treated rats at doses of 1.0% and 1.5%. After 12 weeks the majority of rats treated with 1.5% antipyrine and phenacetin had labeling indices greater than or equal to 2-fold than the control rats both in the kidney and bladder. The increased labeling indices were associated with urothelial hyperplasia, in particular after 6 weeks. In the rats treated with antipyrine there were significant degenerative changes in the urothelial cells expressed as marked vacuolization. The vacuolization is considered to be a toxic effect and the beginning of cell death. Thus cell death with regeneration may be responsible for the increased labeling index in the antipyrine groups. High doses of antipyrine were also associated with renal papillary necrosis in 50% of the rats.