STUDY ON THE POINT MUTATION OF THE p53 TUMOR SUPPRESSOR GENE IN HUMAN FETAL TRACHEAL EPITHELIUM CELL TREATED WITH TRANS-BPDE

Purpose: In order to study the effects of trans-BPDE on the development in human lung cancer, human fetal tracheal epithelium cells (HFTEs) cultured in vitro were exposed to trans-BPDE, a metabolite of benzo(a)pyrene\. Methods: For 8～12 weeks, the point mutations in exon 6～8 of p53 tumor suppressor gene in these HFTEs were detected by PCR-SSCP assay. Results: The results showed that the HFTEs treated with trans-BPDE had point mutations in exons 7 and 8 of p53 tumor suppressor gene, even though no malignantly transformed characteristics were observed in cellular morphology. Conclusion: these results suggest that trans-BPDE can induce point mutation in p53 tumor suppressor gene in these HFTEs and the point mutation and activation of p53 may occur in the cells before morphological transformation.