To clarify the roles of human cytochrome P450 (P450 or CYP) 2A6 and 2E1 on
the metabolic activation of N-nitrosamines, we established genetically engi
neered Salmonella typhimurium strains harboring human CYP2A6 or CYP2E1 toge
ther with NADPH-P450 reductase (OR). The 5'-terminus of CYP cDNA was modifi
ed to achieve a high-level expression in S. typhimurium. Modified CYP2A6 or
CYP2E1 cDNA and native OR cDNA were introduced into a pCW vector. S. typhi
murium YG7108 cells were transformed with this vector. The mutagen producin
g ability of these enzymes for some N-nitrosamines were evaluated using the
established S. typhimurium cells. We found that the substrate specificity
of CYP2A6 and CYP2E1 was different among mutagens. CYP2A6 was responsible f
or the metabolic activation of N-nitrosamines possessing relatively long al
kyl chains, whereas CYP2E1 was responsible for the metabolic activation of
N-nitrosamines with relatively short alkyl chains. It is likely that CYP2A6
gene polymorphism is responsible for the interindividual variability on th
e cancer susceptibility. We found the whole deletion of CYP2A6 gene as a ty
pe of genetic polymorphism in Japanese. Thus, we developed a gene diagnosis
method to detect the variant. We evaluated the relationship between the CY
P2A6 gene whole deletion and the susceptibility to the lung cancer. The fre
quency of CYP2A6 gene whole deletion was significantly lower in the lung ca
ncer patients than that of healthy volunteers. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.
V. All rights reserved.