BUBR1 Insufficiency in Mice Increases Their Sensitivity to Oxidative Stress

BACKGROUND/AIM:Budding uninhibited by benzimidazole-related 1 (BUBR1) plays an important role in the spindle assembly checkpoint to prevent chromosome missegregation and aneuploidy during mitosis. We previously generated mutant mice that express BUBR1 at only 20% of the normal level (BubR1L/L mice). Here, we examined the effect of low BUBR1 expression on oxidative stress-induced carcinogenesis in mice.MATERIALS AND METHODS:We orally administered either a potassium bromate (KBrO3) solution (2 g/l) or tap water to BubR1L/L and wild-type (BubR1+/+)mice for 16 weeks and examined the subsequent incidence of tumours.RESULTS:KBrO3-treated BubR1L/L mice showed significantly higher mortality than the KBrO3-treated BubR1+/+ and control tap water-treated mice (p=0.0082). Histopathological and immunohistochemical analyses revealed that the spleens of surviving BubR1L/L mice were occupied by non-B-, non-T-cells with high proliferative potential.CONCLUSION:Our results indicate that low BUBR1 expression increases oxidative stress-induced mortality in mice, possibly caused by splenic neoplasms.