title: Potential molecular mechanisms of oxidant-induced carcinogenesis.
abstract: Chronic exposure to oxidants is associated with an increased incidence of malignancy; however, the mechanism(s) by which oxidants contribute to carcinogenesis is unknown. Since oncogene activation plays an important role in carcinogenesis, we hypothesized that hydroxyl radical-induced DNA damage might contribute to carcinogenesis by causing oncogene activation. The studies reported herein demonstrate that hydroxyl radical-induced DNA damage can activate the K-ras 4B and C-Raf-l oncogenes by causing point mutations and deletions, respectively. In addition, our results indicate that a) hydroxyl radical-induced DNA damage causes selective base substitutions; b) the four DNA bases have different susceptibilities to hydroxyl radical-induced mutations; and c) hydroxyl radical-induced mutations are not randomly distributed among oncogene codons. Our studies suggest that oncogene activation could be one potential mechanism by which oxidants contribute to carcinogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037.
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Jackson
mesh_terms: D002273:Carcinogens / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004249:DNA Damage; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D017665:Hydroxyl Radical / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009857:Oncogenes
chemical_list: D002273:Carcinogens; D017665:Hydroxyl Radical