Interaction of benzo[a]pyrene diol epoxide isomers with human serum albumin: Site specific characterisation of adducts and associated kinetics

Carcinogenicity of benzo[a]pyrene {B[a]P, a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)} involves DNA-modification by B[a]P diol epoxide (BPDE) metabolites. Adducts to serum albumin (SA) are not repaired, unlike DNA adducts, and therefore considered advantageous in assessment of in vivo dose of BPDEs. In the present work, kinetic experiments were performed in relation to the dose (i.e. concentration over time) of different BPDE isomers, where human SA (hSA) was incubated with respective BPDEs under physiological conditions. A liquid chromatography (LC) tandem mass spectrometry methodology was employed for characterising respective BPDE-adducts at histidine and lysine. This strategy allowed to structurally distinguish between the adducts from racemic anti- and syn-BPDE and between (+)- and (−)-anti-BPDE, which has not been attained earlier. The adduct levels quantified by LC-UV and the estimated rate of disappearance of BPDEs in presence of hSA gave an insight into the reactivity of the diol epoxides towards the N-sites on SA. The structure specific method and dosimetry described in this work could be used for accurate estimation of in vivo dose of the BPDEs following exposure to B[a]P, primarily in dose response studies of genotoxicity, e.g. in mice, to aid in quantitative risk assessment of PAHs.