title: Suppression of saccharin-induced mutagenicity by interferon-alpha in human RSa cells.
abstract: Saccharin is an artificial sweetener commonly used in the formulation of foods and beverages. Sodium saccharin-induced mutagenicity is detectable in human RSa cells by estimation of cloning efficiency of ouabain-resistant mutant cells and determination of K-ras codon 12 mutation in genomic DNA, analyzed by PCR and differential dot-blot hybridization. However, in this study no phenotypic or genetic mutations were detected in RSa cells cultured with human IFN (HuIFN)-alpha before sodium saccharin treatment. The suppressive effect was lessened by transient treatment with antipain immediately after sodium saccharin treatment. Elevation of antipain-sensitive protease activity was found, furthermore, in RSa cells cultured with HuIFN-alpha and subsequently treated with sodium saccharin. Thus, antipain-sensitive protease induction in cells tested here may be involved in suppression of the mutagenicity of saccharin by HuIFN-alpha.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Chiba University, Japan.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Suzuki
mesh_terms: D016587:Antimutagenic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000976:Antipain / Q000494:pharmacology; D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D016193:G1 Phase; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012439:Saccharin / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D016587:Antimutagenic Agents; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D000976:Antipain; D012439:Saccharin