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Inter-individual variation in nucleotide excision repair in young adults: effects of age, adiposity, micronutrient supplementation and genotype

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 October 2008

John Tyson*
Affiliation:
Human Nutrition Research Centre, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK School of Clinical Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK
Fiona Caple
Affiliation:
Human Nutrition Research Centre, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK School of Applied Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK
Alison Spiers
Affiliation:
Human Nutrition Research Centre, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK School of Clinical Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK
Brian Burtle
Affiliation:
Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK
Ann K. Daly
Affiliation:
School of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, The Medical School, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK
Elizabeth A. Williams
Affiliation:
Human Nutrition Unit, School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2JX, UK
John E. Hesketh
Affiliation:
Human Nutrition Research Centre, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK
John C. Mathers
Affiliation:
Human Nutrition Research Centre, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK School of Clinical Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK
*
*Corresponding author: Dr John Tyson, fax +44 191 222 7914, email john.tyson@ncl.ac.uk
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Abstract

Nucleotide excision repair (NER) is responsible for repairing bulky helix-distorting DNA lesions and is essential for the maintenance of genomic integrity. Severe hereditary impairment of NER leads to cancers such as those in xeroderma pigmentosum, and more moderate reductions in NER capacity have been associated with an increased cancer risk. Diet is a proven modifier of cancer risk but few studies have investigated the potential relationships between diet and NER. In the present study, the plasmid-based host cell reactivation assay was used to measure the NER capacity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from fifty-seven volunteers aged 18–30 years before and after 6 weeks of supplementation with micronutrients (selenium and vitamins A, C and E). As a control, nine individuals remained unsupplemented over the same period. Volunteers were genotyped for the following polymorphisms in NER genes: ERCC5 Asp1104His (rs17655); XPC Lys939Gln (rs2228001); ERCC2 Lys751Gnl (rs13181); XPC PAT (an 83 bp poly A/T insertion–deletion polymorphism in the XPC gene). NER capacity varied 11-fold between individuals and was inversely associated with age and endogenous DNA strand breaks. For the first time, we observed an inverse association between adiposity and NER. No single polymorphism was associated with the NER capacity, although significant gene–gene interactions were observed between XPC Lys939Gln and ERCC5 Asp1104His and XPC Lys939Gln and ERCC2 Lys751Gnl. While there was no detectable effect of micronutrient supplementation on NER capacity, there was evidence that the effect of fruit intake on the NER capacity may be modulated by the ERCC2 Lys751Gnl single nucleotide polymorphism.

Information

Type
Full Papers
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2008
Figure 0

Fig. 1 Reproducibility of nucleotide excision repair (NER) capacity measurement in three human subjects. Two peripheral blood mononuclear cell preparations were made on three separate occasions, approximately 1 week apart, from subjects A (●) and C () and on two occasions for subject B (○) and the NER capacity was measured in each preparation. (a) Agreement of NER capacity measurements in duplicate lymphocyte samples from the same individual on the same day (R2 0·924, P < 0·0001). (b) NER capacity (mean of two repeat measurements) from three individuals over three sampling occasions.

Figure 1

Fig. 2 (a) Inter-individual variation in nucleotide excision repair (NER) capacity (%) among study subjects' pre-supplementation and (b) correlation of NER capacity in all individuals' pre- and post-supplementation (R2 0·4, P = 0·001; (), supplemented, (○) unsupplemented).

Figure 2

Fig. 3 Associations between nucleotide excision repair (NER) capacity at baseline and (a) age (R2 0·14, P < 0·001), (b) BMI (R2 0·08, P = 0·02) and (c) endogenous oxidative DNA damage (R2 0·17, P = 0·005).

Figure 3

Table 1 Genotype distribution and mean nucleotide excision repair (NER) capacity among genotypes at baseline

Figure 4

Fig. 4 Interactions between the XPC Lys939Gln (rs2228001) and (a) ERCC5 Asp1104His (rs17655) and (b) ERCC2 Lys751Gnl (rs13181) genotypes on nucleotide excision repair (NER) capacity. (–●–), ERCC5 Asp/Asp, ERCC5 Asp/His or His/His. (), ERCC2 Lys/Lys, ERCC2 Lys/Gln or Gln/Gln.

Figure 5

Table 2 Nucleotide excision repair (NER) capacity in supplemented and unsupplemented groups pre- and post-micronutrient supplementation

Figure 6

Fig. 5 Interaction between tertiles of fruit intake (, low;, medium;, high) and ERCC2 Lys751Gln (rs13181) genotype on nucleotide excision repair (NER) capacity. NER capacity is the mean (sem) of measurements pre- and post-micronutrient supplementation. Individuals were dichotomised for genotype based on the presence or absence of the uncommon (Gln) allele of the Lys751Gln genotype. Fruit intake was divided into tertiles based on portions per day. P = 0·041 for interaction.