extremely grateful to the Burroughs Wellcome Co. and to Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. for their support of my research in Tuckahoe from 1960 to 1970 and in Nutley from 1970 to the present. Looking back at the names of earlier recipients of the Clowes Award, I realize that I am the 6th Clowes Lecturer who, at one time or another in his career, has been associated with the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research at the University of Wisconsin. I believe that the large number of awardees associated with McArdle is telling us something about the genius of Dr. Harold Rusch who established McArdle with a handful of outstanding young investigators. Dr. Rusch helped to develop in his associates an intense devotion to fundamental cancer research, and he provided his colleagues with an at mosphere that encouraged them to have critical but construc tive interactions with each other in ways that stimulated excel lence in research by all of the members of the group. In 1952, I had the good fortune of coming to McArdle as a graduate student of Drs. James and Elizabeth Miller. Although I failed in my first research assignment, which was to synthesize pure 2amino-1-naphthol, the Millers had great patience with me, and they tried very hard to instill their high standards into my research. Whatever small accomplishments I may have made to biomÃ©dical research were in large part the result of the excellent training and encouragement that I received from Jim and Betty Miller. An important problem that has been of great interest to me for many years is individuality in the response of human beings and other living organisms to foreign chemicals. Why does a drug or an environmental pollutant cause toxicity in one person and not in another person? Why do some cigarette smokers develop lung cancer whereas other cigarette smokers do not? One of the causes of variability in the response of human beings to a foreign chemical is individuality in the rate of metabolism of the chemical. By the mid-1960s, it was recog nized by clinical pharmacologists that the plasma half-lives and steady state plasma concentrations of drugs varied by as much as 10to 20-fold among different individuals (42, 115, 204, 318). Because it seemed likely that there were also large differences in the metabolism of chemical carcinogens in dif ferent individuals, we investigated the metabolism of BP2 by

https://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/canres/42/12/4875.full.pdf

Induction of Microsomal Enzymes by Foreign Chemicals and Carcinogenesis by Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: G. H. A. Clowes Memorial Lecture

Epidemiologic evidence on the relationship between polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and cancer is reviewed. High occupational exposure to PAHs occurs in several industries and occupations. Covered here are aluminum production, coal gasification, coke production, iron and steel foundries, tar distillation, shale oil extraction, wood impregnation, roofing, road paving, carbon black production, carbon electrode production, chimney sweeping, and calcium carbide production. In addition, workers exposed to diesel engine exhaust in the transport industry and in related occupations are exposed to PAHs and nitro-PAHs. Heavy exposure to PAHs entails a substantial risk of lung, skin, and bladder cancer, which is not likely to be due to other carcinogenic exposures present in the same industries. The lung seems to be the major target organ of PAH carcinogenicity and increased risk is present in most of the industries and occupations listed above. An increased risk of skin cancer follows high dermal exposure. An increase in bladder cancer risk is found mainly in industries with high exposure to PAHs from coal tars and pitches. Increased risks have been reported for other organs, namely the larynx and the kidney; the available evidence, however, is inconclusive. The results of studies addressing environmental PAH exposure are consistent with these conclusions.

Cancer risk from occupational and environmental exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Chronic viral hepatitis is the principal cause of chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma in the world and now ranks as the chief reason for liver transplantation in adults.1–3 Of the five known hepatitis viruses, three can cause persistent infection and chronic hepatitis: the hepatitis B virus (HBV),4 the hepatitis C virus (HCV),5 and the hepatitis delta (or hepatitis D) virus (HDV).6 The other two viruses, hepatitis A and hepatitis E, cause acute, self-limited disease only. Recent findings suggest that there is an additional form of viral hepatitis to which two recently discovered human viruses — the hepatitis . . .

The treatment of chronic viral hepatitis

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), of which benzo[a]pyrene is the most commonly studied and measured, are formed by the incomplete combustion of organic matter. They are widely distributed in the environment and human exposure to them is unavoidable. A number of them, such as benzo[a]pyrene, are carcinogenic and mutagenic, and they are widely believed to make a substantial contribution to the overall burden of cancer in humans. Their presence in the environment is reflected in their presence at detectable levels in many types of uncooked food. In addition, cooking processes can generate PAHs in food. PAHs can also be formed during the curing and processing of raw food prior to cooking. Several studies have been carried out to determine the levels of exposure to PAHs from representative human diets, and the proportion of the overall burden of environmental exposure to PAHs that is attributable to the diet. In most cases, it is concluded that diet is the major source of human exposure to PAHs. The major dietary sources of PAHs are cereals and vegetables, rather than meat, except where there is high consumption of meat cooked over an open flame. More recently, biomonitoring procedures have been developed to assess human exposure to PAHs and these have also indicated that diet is a major source of exposure. Exposure to nitro-PAHs through food consumption appears to be very low.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the diet.

Studies on a variety of chemical carcinogens have demonstrated that their ultimate reactive and carcinogenic forms are strong electrophiles. Some carcinogens, such as alkylating agents, are in their ultimate forms as administered, but most require metabolism to these active derivatives. The ultimate carcinogens react, usually non-enzymatically, with nucleophilic constituents in vivo. Of particular interest in regard to their possible importance in carcinogenesis have been the covalent interactions of these electrophilic reactants with cellular informational macromolecules, the DNAs, RNAs, and proteins. Current data are consistent with the idea that the initiation step of chemical carcinogenesis is a mutagenic event and is caused by alteration of DNA by the ultimate carcinogens. The nature of the carcinogen metabolite(s) involved in the promotion phase has not been determined, but there appears to be no requirement that they be electrophilic. The development of the concept of ultimate chemical carcinogens as strong electrophilic reactants is reviewed, especially with respect to the studies carried in the authors' laboratory.

Searches for ultimate chemical carcinogens and their reactions with cellular macromolecules

Evidence has been obtained that a specific isomer of a diol epoxide derivative of benzo(a)pyrene, (+/-)-7 beta,8alpha-dihydroxy-9alpha, 10alpha-epoxy-7,8,9,10-tetrahydrobenzo(a)pyrene, is an intermediate in the binding of benzo(a)pyrene to RNA in cultured bovine bronchial mucosa. An adduct is formed between position 10 of this derivative and the 2-amino group of guanine.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/193/4253/592.full.pdf

Benzo(a)pyrene diol epoxides as intermediates in nucleic acid binding in vitro and in vivo.

PUBLICATION by Sims et al. of evidence that the 7,8-dihydrodiol-9,10-oxide of benzo(a)pyrene (BP) is a metabolic intermediate in the covalent binding of this ubiquitous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon to DNA in hamster embryo cells1 was followed by many related publications2. Grover et al.3 also obtained evidence that the same derivative is involved in the binding of BP to the DNA of human bronchial explants, although details of the specific isomer involved and of the structure of the adduct were not reported. We describe here studies on RNA and DNA adducts formed by human bronchial explants and provide evidence that the structures of the major adducts are similar to those formed in the analogous bovine system.

Structures of benzo(a)pyrene–nucleic acid adducts formed in human and bovine bronchial explants

Benzo[a]pyrene-nucleic acid derivative found in vivo: structure of a benzo[a]pyrenetetrahydrodiol epoxide-guanosine adduct

The covalent binding of benzo[a]pyrene 4,5-oxide and benzo[a]pyrene-7,8-dihydrodiol 9,10-oxide isomer I and isomer II to nucleic acids in aqueous acetone solution has been investigated. Benzo[a]pyrene 4,5-oxide reacted preferentially with guanosine residues. On the other hand, benzo[a]pyrene-7,8-dihydrodiol 9,10-oxide isomer I and II reacted extensively with guanosine, adenosine, and cytidine residues. Time course studies showed that the reactivity of isomer I or isomer II with homopolyribonucleotides followed the order poly(G) greater than poly(A) greater than poly(C). Alkaline or enzymatic hydrolysis of the modified nucleic acids and subsequent chromatography on Sephadex LH-20 columns yielded benzo[a]pyrene-nucleotide adducts. These were enzymatically converted to the corresponding nucleosides which were resolved into several distinct components by high-pressure liquid chromatography. Evidence was obtained for the presence of multiple nucleoside adducts of guanosine, adenosine, cytidine, deoxyguanosine, deoxyadenosine, and deoxycytidine. The HPLC profiles of adducts formed with isomer I were different from the corresponding profiles of adducts formed with isomer II. Structural aspects of these nucleoside adducts are discussed.

Alan M. Jeffrey

Papers

Benzo(a)pyrene diol epoxides as intermediates in nucleic acid binding in vitro and in vivo.

Structures of benzo(a)pyrene–nucleic acid adducts formed in human and bovine bronchial explants

Benzo[a]pyrene-nucleic acid derivative found in vivo: structure of a benzo[a]pyrenetetrahydrodiol epoxide-guanosine adduct

Nucleoside adducts from the in vitro reaction of benzo[a]pyrene-7,8-dihydrodiol 9,10-oxide or benzo[a]pyrene 4,5-oxide with nucleic acids.

Benzo(a)pyrene-nucleic acid derivative found in vivo- structure of a benzo(a)pyrenetetrahydrodiol epoxide-guanosine adduct