TY - JOUR A1 - Hadi, Naji Said Aboud A1 - Bankoglu, Ezgi Eyluel A1 - Stopper, Helga T1 - Genotoxicity of pyrrolizidine alkaloids in metabolically inactive human cervical cancer HeLa cells co-cultured with human hepatoma HepG2 cells JF - Archives of Toxicology N2 - Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) are secondary plant metabolites, which can be found as contaminant in various foods and herbal products. Several PAs can cause hepatotoxicity and liver cancer via damaging hepatic sinusoidal endothelial cells (HSECs) after hepatic metabolization. HSECs themselves do not express the required metabolic enzymes for activation of PAs. Here we applied a co-culture model to mimic the in vivo hepatic environment and to study PA-induced effects on not metabolically active neighbour cells. In this co-culture model, bioactivation of PA was enabled by metabolically capable human hepatoma cells HepG2, which excrete the toxic and mutagenic pyrrole metabolites. The human cervical epithelial HeLa cells tagged with H2B-GFP were utilized as non-metabolically active neighbours because they can be identified easily based on their green fluorescence in the co-culture. The PAs europine, riddelliine and lasiocarpine induced micronuclei in HepG2 cells, and in HeLa H2B-GFP cells co-cultured with HepG2 cells, but not in HeLa H2B-GFP cells cultured alone. Metabolic inhibition of cytochrome P450 enzymes with ketoconazole abrogated micronucleus formation. The efflux transporter inhibitors verapamil and benzbromarone reduced micronucleus formation in the co-culture model. Furthermore, mitotic disturbances as an additional genotoxic mechanism of action were observed in HepG2 cells and in HeLa H2B-GFP cells co-cultured with HepG2 cells, but not in HeLa H2B-GFP cells cultured alone. Overall, we were able to show that PAs were activated by HepG2 cells and the metabolites induced genomic damage in co-cultured HeLa cells. KW - co-culture KW - micronuclei KW - mitotic disturbance KW - cytochrome P450s KW - membrane transporters KW - pyrrolizidine alkaloids Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-324708 VL - 97 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bankoglu, Ezgi Eyluel A1 - Schuele, Carolin A1 - Stopper, Helga T1 - Cell survival after DNA damage in the comet assay JF - Archives of Toxicology N2 - The comet assay is widely used in basic research, genotoxicity testing, and human biomonitoring. However, interpretation of the comet assay data might benefit from a better understanding of the future fate of a cell with DNA damage. DNA damage is in principle repairable, or if extensive, can lead to cell death. Here, we have correlated the maximally induced DNA damage with three test substances in TK6 cells with the survival of the cells. For this, we selected hydrogen peroxide (H\(_{2}\)O\(_{2}\)) as an oxidizing agent, methyl methanesulfonate (MMS) as an alkylating agent and etoposide as a topoisomerase II inhibitor. We measured cell viability, cell proliferation, apoptosis, and micronucleus frequency on the following day, in the same cell culture, which had been analyzed in the comet assay. After treatment, a concentration dependent increase in DNA damage and in the percentage of non-vital and apoptotic cells was found for each substance. Values greater than 20-30% DNA in tail caused the death of more than 50% of the cells, with etoposide causing slightly more cell death than H\(_{2}\)O\(_{2}\) or MMS. Despite that, cells seemed to repair of at least some DNA damage within few hours after substance removal. Overall, the reduction of DNA damage over time is due to both DNA repair and death of heavily damaged cells. We recommend that in experiments with induction of DNA damage of more than 20% DNA in tail, survival data for the cells are provided. KW - Cell death and comet assay KW - DNA damage KW - DNA repair Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-265339 VL - 95 IS - 12 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bankoglu, Ezgi Eyluel A1 - Stipp, Franzisca A1 - Gerber, Johanna A1 - Seyfried, Florian A1 - Heidland, August A1 - Bahner, Udo A1 - Stopper, Helga T1 - Effect of cryopreservation on DNA damage and DNA repair activity in human blood samples in the comet assay JF - Archives of Toxicology N2 - The comet assay is a commonly used method to determine DNA damage and repair activity in many types of samples. In recent years, the use of the comet assay in human biomonitoring became highly attractive due to its various modified versions, which may be useful to determine individual susceptibility in blood samples. However, in human biomonitoring studies, working with large sample numbers that are acquired over an extended time period requires some additional considerations. One of the most important issues is the storage of samples and its effect on the outcome of the comet assay. Another important question is the suitability of different blood preparations. In this study, we analysed the effect of cryopreservation on DNA damage and repair activity in human blood samples. In addition, we investigated the suitability of different blood preparations. The alkaline and FPG as well as two different types of repair comet assay and an in vitro hydrogen peroxide challenge were applied. Our results confirmed that cryopreserved blood preparations are suitable for investigating DNA damage in the alkaline and FPG comet assay in whole blood, buffy coat and PBMCs. Ex vivo hydrogen peroxide challenge yielded its optimal effect in isolated PBMCs. The utilised repair comet assay with either UVC or hydrogen peroxide-induced lesions and an aphidicolin block worked well in fresh PBMCs. Cryopreserved PBMCs could not be used immediately after thawing. However, a 16-h recovery with or without mitotic stimulation enabled the application of the repair comet assay, albeit only in a surviving cell fraction. KW - human biomonitoring KW - DNA damage KW - DNA repair KW - comet assay KW - blood samples Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-265326 VL - 95 IS - 5 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bankoglu, Ezgi Eyluel A1 - Arnold, Charlotte A1 - Hering, Ilona A1 - Hankir, Mohammed A1 - Seyfried, Florian A1 - Stopper, Helga T1 - Decreased chromosomal damage in lymphocytes of obese patients after bariatric surgery JF - Scientific Reports N2 - The number of bariatric surgeries being performed worldwide has markedly risen. While the improvement in obesity-associated comorbidities after bariatric surgery is well-established, very little is known about its impact on cancer risk. The peripheral lymphocyte micronucleus test is a widely used method for the monitoring of chromosomal damage levels in vivo, and micronucleus frequency positively correlates with cancer risk. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the micronucleus frequency before and after bariatric surgery in obese subjects. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were collected from 45 obese subjects before and at two time-points after bariatric surgery (6 and 12 months) to assess spontaneous micronucleus frequency. Consistent with the increased cancer risk previously shown, bariatric surgery-induced weight loss led to a significant reduction in lymphocyte micronucleus frequency after 12 months. Interestingly, comorbidities such as type 2 diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome further seemed to have an impact on the lymphocyte micronucleus frequency. Our findings may indicate a successful reduction of cancer risk in patients following weight loss caused by bariatric surgery. KW - obesity KW - bariatric surgery KW - cancer risk Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-177090 VL - 8 IS - 11195 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bankoglu, Ezgi Eyluel A1 - Tschopp, Oliver A1 - Schmitt, Johannes A1 - Burkard, Philipp A1 - Jahn, Daniel A1 - Geier, Andreas A1 - Stopper, Helga T1 - Role of PTEN in Oxidative Stress and DNA Damage in the Liver of Whole-Body Pten Haplodeficient Mice JF - PLoS One N2 - Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and obesity are frequently associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and with an elevated cancer incidence. The molecular mechanisms of carcinogenesis in this context are only partially understood. High blood insulin levels are typical in early T2DM and excessive insulin can cause elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and genomic instability. ROS are important for various cellular functions in signaling and host defense. However, elevated ROS formation is thought to be involved in cancer induction. In the molecular events from insulin receptor binding to genomic damage, some signaling steps have been identified, pointing at the PI3K/AKT pathway. For further elucidation Phosphatase and Tensin homolog (Pten), a tumour suppressor phosphatase that plays a role in insulin signaling by negative regulation of PI3K/AKT and its downstream targets, was investigated here. Dihydroethidium (DHE) staining was used to detect ROS formation in immortalized human hepatocytes. Comet assay and micronucleus test were performed to investigate genomic damage in vitro. In liver samples, DHE staining and western blot detection of HSP70 and HO-1 were performed to evaluate oxidative stress response. DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) were detected by immunohistostaining. Inhibition of PTEN with the pharmacologic inhibitor VO-OHpic resulted in increased ROS production and genomic damage in a liver cell line. Knockdown of Pten in a mouse model yielded increased oxidative stress levels, detected by ROS levels and expression of the two stress-proteins HSP70 and HO-1 and elevated genomic damage in the liver, which was significant in mice fed with a high fat diet. We conclude that PTEN is involved in oxidative stress and genomic damage induction in vitro and that this may also explain the in vivo observations. This further supports the hypothesis that the PI3K/AKT pathway is responsible for damaging effects of high levels of insulin. KW - insulin KW - mouse models DNA damage KW - oxidative stress KW - mammalian genomics KW - fatty liver KW - micronuclei KW - insulin signaling Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-146970 VL - 11 IS - 11 ER -