Possible involvement of XPA in repair of oxidative DNA damage deduced from analysis of damage, repair and genotype in a human population study

Participants in a study of occupational exposure to mineral fibres in Slovakia were analysed for the polymorphism 23A -> G in the DNA repair gene XPA. Of the 388 subjects, 239 were exposed to asbestos, stonewool or glass fibre; the rest were unexposed controls. Levels of DNA base alterations (oxidation and alkylation) in lymphocytes were measured using the comet assay with lesion-specific endonucleases. 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase (OGG1) DNA repair activity was measured, as incision activity of a lymphocyte extract on DNA containing the OGG1 substrate 8-oxoguanine. Presence of the A allele was associated with higher levels of DNA damage (sites sensitive to formamidopyrimidine DNA glycosylase, endonuclease III or 3-methyladenine DNA glycosylase II) as well as with higher activity of OGG1 repair enzyme. DNA base damage increased with age, showing highly significant correlations when the whole population or subgroups of the population were analysed. OGG1 repair activity also increased with age, but when analysed according to XPA genotype, the increase was observed only in those individuals with an A allele. Although XPA is known as a protein involved in nucleotide excision repair of UV-induced damage and bulky DNA adducts, it may also have a role in the repair of oxidized bases.