It has been reported that cellular oxidative stress induces apoptosis. Ultraviolet radiation that generates reactive oxygen intermediates (ROIs) also induces apoptosis. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) is among the most active scavengers of ROIs, providing defense against the cellular oxidative stress. Mammalian cells express two isozymes of SOD, copper, zinc-SOD (Cu, Zn-SOD) and manganese-SOD (Mn-SOD). Using SV40-transformed human keratinocytes (SVHK cells), we investigated the role of SODs in the ultraviolet B (UVB) irradiation-induced apoptosis. UVB irradiation decreased transiently Cu, Zn- and Mn-SOD activities and their protein levels, with subsequent recovery to the basal levels by 24 h. The UVB-induced decrease in SOD activity was dose-dependent and the maximal effect was obtained at 75 mJ/cm(2). The decrease in Cu, Zn-SOD was more marked than that in Mn-SOD. The cell death assay, annexin-V/propidium iodide flow cytometry, and DNA fragmentation analysis revealed that UVB irradiation induces apoptosis in SVHK cells. The UVB-induced apoptosis was suppressed by the treatment of antioxidants, catalase, glutathione, and alpha-tochopherol. The stable transfection of Cu, Zn-SOD expression vectors into SVHK cells was accompanied by the increased activities of antioxidant enzymes, catalase, and glutathione reductase, as well as glutathione and the cells were shown to be more resistant to UVB-induced apoptosis. In contrast, the transfection of Mn-SOD affected neither activities of antioxidant enzymes nor the UVB-induced apoptosis. The transfection of Cu, Zn-SOD antisense oligomers but not sense oligomers into SVHK or Cu, Zn-SOD cDNA-transfected SVHK (C2) cells significantly decreased the antioxidant enzyme activities and increased the UVB-induced apoptosis. On the other hand, the transfection of Mn-SOD antisense oligomers did not affect the UVB-induced apoptosis. These results suggest that the transfection of Cu, Zn-SOD expression vector, which is accompanied by the increased level of antioxidant enzymes, suppresses the UVB-induced apoptosis of SVHK cells.