NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase1 (DT diaphorase) specifically prevents the formation of benzo[a]pyrene quinone-DNA adducts generated by cytochrome P4501A1 and P450 reductase.

Monkey kidney COS1 cells transiently transfected with plasmids pMT2-cytochrome P450 1A1 (CYP1A1), pMT2-cytochrome P450 reductase (P450 reductase), and pMT2-NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase1 (NQO1 or DT diaphorase), individually or in combination, expressed significantly elevated levels of the respective enzyme(s). The transfected cells were homogenized to break cell membranes without affecting the nuclei and incubated with benzo[a]pyrene (BP) to determine the role of cDNA-encoded enzymes in metabolic activation and/or detoxification of BP. These studies were performed by measuring the capacity of the transfected cells to form DNA adducts as determined by 32P postlabeling and protein adduct detection. Cotransfection of the COS1 cells with cDNAs encoding CYP1A1 and P450 reductase resulted in eight distinct BP-DNA adducts. Inclusion of cDNA encoding NQO1 along with CYP1A1 and P450 reductase in transfection reduced the number of DNA adducts to six. The two lost DNA adducts were specifically eliminated due to the presence of cDNA-derived NQO1 activity. Subsequent experiments with BP-1,6-quinone, BP-3,6-quinone, and BP-6,12-quinone identified these two adducts as those of BP quinones. In an in vitro system, BP-3,6-quinone produced two adducts with deoxyguanosine (dG) but not with dA, dC, and dT. Furthermore, the positions of BP-3,6-quinone-dG adducts on TLC plate correspond to those that are prevented by cDNA-derived NQO1, thus identifying these adducts as BP quinones of dG. In addition, NQO1 reduced the amount of protein-BP adducts generated by CYP1A1 and P450 reductase into transfected COS1 cells. These results show that semiquinones can directly bind to DNA and demonstrate that NQO1 activity can specifically reduce the binding of quinone metabolites of BP generated by CYP1A1 and P450 reductase to DNA and protein.