Enhancement by adriamycin of the effects of 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate on mouse epidermal glutathione peroxidase activity, ornithine decarboxylase induction and skin tumor promotion.

Adriamycin (ADR) failed to inhibit and paradoxically enhanced the biological action of 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) in mouse epidermis in vivo and in vitro. In the presence of ADR, the tumor promoter caused a greater sequential rapid increase and prolonged decrease in glutathione (GSH) peroxidase (GSH:H2O2 oxidoreductase, EC 1.11.1.9) activity accompanied by a greater decrease in the ratio of reduced (GSH)/oxidized (GSSG) glutathione in isolated epidermal cells. The ability of ADR to deplete the intracellular level of GSH correlated with its ability to increase basal and TPA-induced ornithine decarboxylase (ODC, L-ornithine carboxylase, EC 4.1.1.17) activities. In vivo, topical ADR treatments also enhanced TPA-induced ODC activity as well as the tumor-promoting ability of TPA in the two-stage system of mouse skin carcinogenesis. Since lipid peroxidation has been associated with ADR toxicity, these data suggest that the enhancement of the tumor-promoting ability of TPA by ADR may be the result of an increased oxidative challenge that overwhelms the GSH-dependent antioxidant protective system of the epidermal cells.