Decreased ability of cells overexpressing MYC proteins to reduce peroxide and hydroperoxides.

Hydroperoxides are reduced in mammalian cells by a coupled enzyme pathway involving glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase and the oxidative limb of the pentose cycle. Oxidation of glucose-6-phosphate by the pentose cycle yields two molecules of NADPH, which can reduce two hydroperoxide molecules to the corresponding alcohol. Rat embryo fibroblasts (REF) transfected with v-myc reduce hydroperoxides slower than the primary REF cell line-measured both as real time peroxide loss and as increased glucose oxidation via the pentose cycle. The v-myc transfected cell line is 50-fold more sensitive to the toxic effects of tBu-OOH. The decreased reduction of peroxides by v-myc transfected cells is not due to changes in the activities of GSH reductase or the enzymes of the oxidative pentose cycle, since diamide stimulates PC activity equally in both cell lines. In addition, the activities of these enzymes, measured in cell homogenates do not differ significantly between the cell lines. Also total GSH peroxidase activity, assayed in cell homogenates, is not significantly different between the cell lines. Two human tumour cell lines which overexpress myc family proteins: NCI-H69, a small-cell lung cancer line which expresses elevated levels of N-myc, and HL-60 cells which overexpress c-myc, also exhibit low levels of pentose cycle stimulation in the presence of tBu-OOH, and a decreased capacity to reduce hydrogen peroxide by peroxide electrode.