Evaluation of tamoxifen and alpha-hydroxytamoxifen 32P-post-labelled DNA adducts by the development of a novel automated on-line solid-phase extraction HPLC method.

A novel HPLC system has been developed that has allowed the separation of tamoxifen DNA adducts formed in the livers of rats and mice treated with this drug. At least 13 different peaks have been separated from 32P-post-labelled DNA, with two major peaks jointly accounting for >60% of the total adducts formed by tamoxifen in the livers of treated rats and mice. This is a great improvement on the resolution obtained by thin layer chromatography, which separates the adducts into one main product consisting of a group of major adduct spots eluting together, plus several other minor spots. Identification of the nature of some of the peaks has been investigated. Comparisons of the products formed when alpha-acetoxytamoxifen is reacted with DNA in vitro with 32P-post-labelled liver DNA adducts from rats treated with tamoxifen or alpha-hydroxytamoxifen in vivo, appear to confirm that a major route of activation of tamoxifen in vivo is via alpha-hydroxylation. The resolving power of this HPLC system has further extended this result to show that six of the peaks, including the two major peaks, are formed by the reaction of an activated alpha-hydroxytamoxifen with DNA. Activation of 4-hydroxytamoxifen by the peroxidase/H2O2 system in vitro gives a more polar DNA adduct seen only at trace levels in liver DNA from tamoxifen-treated rats and mice.