Apoptosis triggered by DNA damage O6-methylguanine in human lymphocytes requires DNA replication and is mediated by p53 and Fas/CD95/Apo-1.

Various tumor-therapeutic drugs and environmental carcinogens alkylate DNA inducing O(6)-methylguanine (O(6)MeG) that provokes cell death by apoptosis. In rodent fibroblasts, apoptosis triggered by O(6)MeG is executed via the mitochondrial damage pathway. Conversion of O(6)MeG into critical downstream lesions requires mismatch repair (MMR). This is thought to signal apoptosis upon binding to O(6)MeG lesions mispaired with thymine. Alternatively, O(6)MeG lesions might be processed by MMR giving rise to DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) during replication that finally provoke apoptosis. To test this, we examined apoptosis triggered by O(6)MeG in human peripheral lymphocytes in which O(6)-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) had been inactivated by O(6)-benzylguanine (O(6)BG) and which were not proliferating or proliferating upon CD3/CD28 stimulation. Treatment with N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) or the anticancer drug temozolomide induced apoptosis only in proliferating, but not resting cells. With exceptional high alkylation doses (>/=15 microM of MNNG), apoptosis was also observed in resting lymphocytes, albeit at a lower level than in proliferating cells. This response was not affected by O(6)BG, suggesting that replication-independent apoptosis at high dose levels is caused by lesions other than O(6)MeG. O(6)MeG-triggered apoptosis in proliferating lymphocytes was preceded by a wave of DSBs, which coincided with p53 and Fas receptor upregulation, while Fas ligand, Bax and Bcl-2 expression was not altered. Treatment with anti-Fas neutralizing antibody attenuated MNNG-induced apoptosis in MGMT-depleted proliferating lymphocytes. The data suggest that O(6)MeG is converted by MMR and DNA replication into DSBs that trigger apoptosis by p53 stabilization and Fas/CD95/Apo-1 upregulation. This is supported by the finding that ionizing radiation, inducing DSBs on its own, provokes apoptosis in lymphocytes in a replication-independent way. The strict proliferation dependence of apoptosis triggered by O(6)MeG may explain the specific killing response of MGMT-deficient proliferating cells, including tumors, to O(6)MeG generating anticancer drugs and suggests that tumor proliferation rate, Fas responsiveness, MGMT and MMR status are important prognosis parameters.