High-density lipoproteins decrease both DNA binding and mutagenicity of r-7,t-8-dihydroxy-t-9,10-epoxy-7,8,9,10-tetrahydrobenzo[a]pyrene in V79 Chinese hamster cells.

The effects of separate lipoproteins or of serum with high or low lipoprotein concentrations on formation of lipophilic carcinogen adducts with DNA and on mutagenicity of the carcinogen was investigated using V79 Chinese hamster lung cells. Binding of r-7,t-8-dihydroxy-t-9,10-epoxy-7,8,9,10-tetrahydrobenzo[a]pyrene (BPDE) to DNA and BPDE induction of 6-thioguanine (6-TG)-resistant mutants in V79 cells was significantly lower after 1 or 4 h when the medium was supplemented with purified HDL, and was lower after 1 h but not 4 h when the medium was supplemented with serum containing a high concentration of mixed lipoproteins (LP). Cells grown in medium without serum or LP supplementation exhibited the highest levels of both BPDE-DNA adduct formation and mutagenesis after 1 h. At 1 h, cells exposed to BPDE in LDL-supplemented medium showed decreased adduct formation and mutagenesis when compared to cells treated with BPDE in PBS-supplemented medium. After 4 h, cells treated with BPDE in LDL-supplemented medium gave the highest levels of adduct formation and the highest mutation frequency. These results suggest that both LDL and HDL effectively decrease the concentration of BPDE available to V79 cells exposed to the mutagen for short periods of time, resulting in decreased interaction of BPDE with DNA and decreased BPDE-associated mutagenesis, but that both BPDE-DNA adduct formation and mutagenesis increased as a function of increased exposure time in the presence of LDL. The results suggest that LDL, but not HDL, uptake by adsorptive endocytosis may be associated with potentiated entry of BPDE into V79 cells as a function of time.