Repair of DNA damaged by mutagenic metabolites of benzo(a)pyrene in human cells.

The repair of human DNA after damage by known and potential metabolites of benzo(a)pyrene has been examined utilizing the bromodeoxyuridine photolysis assay. Repair was characterized as either ultraviolet ("long") or ionizing radiation type ("short") repair utilizing normal cells and cells deficient in ultraviolet-type repair endonuclease from a patient with xeroderma pigmentosum (XP). We have found that only (+/-)-7beta,8alpha-dihydroxy-9beta,-10beta-epoxy-7,8,9,10-tetrahydrobenzo(a)pyrene (BP diol epoxide 1) and its disastereomer, (+/-)-7beta,8alpha,-dihydroxy-9alpha,10alpha-epoxy-7,8,9,10-tetrahydrobenzo(a)pyrene (BP diol epoxide 2) elicit damage to DNA which is recognizable by the ultraviolet excision repair system in normal human cells. Benzo(a)pyrene 4,5-, 9,10-, 11,12-oxides do not elicit damage which is repairable by this repair system. The 1,2-diol-3,4-epoxides from naphthalene have no measurable activity in our assay. These results indicate that both the benzo(a)pyrene ring structure and the diol epoxide groups are important in causing the damage to DNA which is repairable by the ultraviolet excision repair system. These results parallel the reported high mutagenic activity of these compounds and support the concept that benzo(a)pyrene 7,8-diol-9,10-epoxides may be the ultimate, metabolically activated forms of benzo(a)pyrene.