Hydrogen peroxide: effects on DNA, chromosomes, cell cycle and apoptosis induction in Fanconi's anemia cell lines

Fanconi's anemia (FA) is an inherited autosomal recessive syndrome; cells from FA patients are very sensitive to crosslinking agents and to oxygen. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-transformed lymphoblasts belonging to different FA complementation groups and normal EBV-transformed lymphoblasts were studied for their response to treatment with the oxidizing agent hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The analysis of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) content in the DNA of untreated cells showed an increased basal level of damage in cells from the complementation groups FA-C and FA-E. H2O2-induced 8-OHdG was higher in FA than in normal cell lines. The removal of 8-OHdG after H2O2 treatment was significantly reduced in the cells from complementation group E. However, all FA cell lines showed a normal ability in the resealing of DNA breaks, at least soon after treatment. All cell lines were also equally efficient in the removal of damaged pyrimidines. Compared with normal cells, FA cell lines showed an increase in the baseline level of micronuclei, but not in the number of micronuclei induced by H2O2. Micronuclei in FA cells originated prevalently from chromosomal fragmentation and, at a minor extent, from chromosome loss. After H2O2 treatment, FA cell lines accumulated in G(2) phase to a greater extent than normal lymphoblasts. However, reversion of mutation in FA-A and FA-C cells did not result in the correction of this phenotype. In cells evaluated for apoptosis no ladder formation was found in FA-C, FA-E and corrected FA-C cells. In conclusion, among the FA cell lines examined, only FA-E showed a defect in the repair of H2O2-induced damage. On the other hand, differences found in the cell cycle and apoptosis might be due to irreversible changes occurring in FA cell lines as a consequence of the primary defect.