Quinone-induced DNA single strand breaks in human colon carcinoma cell line.

It has been demonstrated that synthetic quinones, such as menadione, cause DNA damage in different cell systems, possibly being mediated by free radicals generated during redox cycling, It has been suggested that the damage caused could be related to tumor induction in different sites, To our knowledge it has not yet been demonstrated that the natural quinones, vitamin K-1 and K-2, exert the same activity. Using a colon carcinoma cell line, HT-29, we examined the extent of DNA damage induced by menadione, vitamin K-1 and K-2. Menadione caused significant DNA damage at low concentrations (25-200 mu M) with a linear correlation of r = 0.95. In the presence of dicoumarol, a DT-diaphorase inhibitor, the damage was detected at concentrations five times lower indicating that free radicals generated during the redox cycling play a key role, Neither vitamin K-1, incorporated in micelles, nor K-2 caused detectable single strand breaks with respect to the controls either in the presence or in absence of dicoumarol, Our results demonstrate that, despite their redox cycling properties, the natural forms of vitamin K do not cause DNA damage in HT-29 cells as menadione does in the experimental conditions used