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      Mechanisms of Cancer Induction by Tobacco-Specific NNK and NNN

      review-article
      1 , 2 , 2 , *
      Cancers
      MDPI
      tobacco, nitrosamines, cancer

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          Abstract

          Tobacco use is a major public health problem worldwide. Tobacco-related cancers cause millions of deaths annually. Although several tobacco agents play a role in the development of tumors, the potent effects of 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) and N'-nitrosonornicotine (NNN) are unique. Metabolically activated NNK and NNN induce deleterious mutations in oncogenes and tumor suppression genes by forming DNA adducts, which could be considered as tumor initiation. Meanwhile, the binding of NNK and NNN to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor promotes tumor growth by enhancing and deregulating cell proliferation, survival, migration, and invasion, thereby creating a microenvironment for tumor growth. These two unique aspects of NNK and NNN synergistically induce cancers in tobacco-exposed individuals. This review will discuss various types of tobacco products and tobacco-related cancers, as well as the molecular mechanisms by which nitrosamines, such as NNK and NNN, induce cancer.

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          Most cited references119

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          Tobacco carcinogens, their biomarkers and tobacco-induced cancer.

          The devastating link between tobacco products and human cancers results from a powerful alliance of two factors - nicotine and carcinogens. Without either one of these, tobacco would be just another commodity, instead of being the single greatest cause of death due to preventable cancer. Nicotine is addictive and toxic, but it is not carcinogenic. This addiction, however, causes people to use tobacco products continually, and these products contain many carcinogens. What are the mechanisms by which this deadly combination leads to 30% of cancer-related deaths in developed countries, and how can carcinogen biomarkers help to reveal these mechanisms?
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            Tobacco smoke carcinogens, DNA damage and p53 mutations in smoking-associated cancers.

            It is estimated that cigarette smoking kills over 1 000 000 people each year by causing lung cancer as well as many other neoplasmas. p53 mutations are frequent in tobacco-related cancers and the mutation load is often higher in cancers from smokers than from nonsmokers. In lung cancers, the p53 mutational patterns are different between smokers and nonsmokers with an excess of G to T transversions in smoking-associated cancers. The prevalence of G to T transversions is 30% in smokers' lung cancer but only 12% in lung cancers of nonsmokers. A similar trend exists, albeit less marked, in laryngeal cancers and in head and neck cancers. This type of mutation is infrequent in most other tumors aside from hepatocellular carcinoma. At several p53 mutational hotspots common to all cancers, such as codons 248 and 273, a large fraction of the mutations are G to T events in lung cancers but are almost exclusively G to A transitions in non-tobacco-related cancers. Two important classes of tobacco smoke carcinogens are the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and the nicotine-derived nitrosamines. Recent studies have indicated that there is a strong coincidence of G to T transversion hotspots in lung cancers and sites of preferential formation of PAH adducts along the p53 gene. Endogenously methylated CpG dinucleotides are the preferred sites for G to T transversions, accounting for more than 50% of such mutations in lung tumors. The same dinucleotide, when present within CpG-methylated mutational reporter genes, is the target of G to T transversion hotspots in cells exposed to the model PAH compound benzo[a]pyrene-7,8-diol-9,10-epoxide. As summarized here, a number of other tobacco smoke carcinogens also can cause G to T transversion mutations. The available data suggest that p53 mutations in lung cancers can be attributed to direct DNA damage from cigarette smoke carcinogens rather than to selection of pre-existing endogenous mutations.
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              Acetylcholine beyond neurons: the non-neuronal cholinergic system in humans.

              Animal life is controlled by neurons and in this setting cholinergic neurons play an important role. Cholinergic neurons release ACh, which via nicotinic and muscarinic receptors (n- and mAChRs) mediate chemical neurotransmission, a highly integrative process. Thus, the organism responds to external and internal stimuli to maintain and optimize survival and mood. Blockade of cholinergic neurotransmission is followed by immediate death. However, cholinergic communication has been established from the beginning of life in primitive organisms such as bacteria, algae, protozoa, sponge and primitive plants and fungi, irrespective of neurons. Tubocurarine- and atropine-sensitive effects are observed in plants indicating functional significance. All components of the cholinergic system (ChAT, ACh, n- and mAChRs, high-affinity choline uptake, esterase) have been demonstrated in mammalian non-neuronal cells, including those of humans. Embryonic stem cells (mice), epithelial, endothelial and immune cells synthesize ACh, which via differently expressed patterns of n- and mAChRs modulates cell activities to respond to internal or external stimuli. This helps to maintain and optimize cell function, such as proliferation, differentiation, formation of a physical barrier, migration, and ion and water movements. Blockade of n- and mACHRs on non-innervated cells causes cellular dysfunction and/or cell death. Thus, cholinergic signalling in non-neuronal cells is comparable to cholinergic neurotransmission. Dysfunction of the non-neuronal cholinergic system is involved in the pathogenesis of diseases. Alterations have been detected in inflammatory processes and a pathobiologic role of non-neuronal ACh in different diseases is discussed. The present article reviews recent findings about the non-neuronal cholinergic system in humans.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Cancers (Basel)
                Cancers (Basel)
                cancers
                Cancers
                MDPI
                2072-6694
                14 May 2014
                June 2014
                : 6
                : 2
                : 1138-1156
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA; E-Mail: jxue@ 123456uic.edu
                [2 ]Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA; E-Mail: syang@ 123456bidmc.harvard.edu
                Author notes
                [* ]Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: sseng@ 123456bidmc.harvard.edu ; Tel: +1-617-667-0090; Fax: +1-617-975-5240.
                Article
                cancers-06-01138
                10.3390/cancers6021138
                4074821
                24830349
                4d994540-064f-4c7a-a291-e0582e4c4037
                © 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

                This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

                History
                : 06 February 2014
                : 13 April 2014
                : 28 April 2014
                Categories
                Review

                tobacco,nitrosamines,cancer
                tobacco, nitrosamines, cancer

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