title: In vivo covalent binding of chemicals to DNA as a short-term test for carcinogenicity.
abstract: The determination of a covalent binding of radioactive chemicals to DNA in intact mammalian organisms is proposed as a short-term test for carcinogenicity. The effectiveness of covalent binding to rat liver DNA correlates well with the hepatocarcinogenicity known from long-term bioassays. The binding indices range over more than five orders of magnitude between the strongest hepatocarcinogen aflatoxin B1 and the limit of detection of a binding with 100 muCi 14C-labelled chemical. The order of magnitude of binding is therefore a surprisingly good quantitative measure for carcinogenicity. The pattern of DNA binding sites is important especially for small alkylating agents where the determination of total binding might indicate a higher carcinogenic potency than is actually observed.
mesh_terms: D000042:Absorption; D000348:Aflatoxins / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D002273:Carcinogens / Q000378:metabolism*; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002621:Chemistry; D004247:DNA / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D004997:Ethinyl Estradiol / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D012439:Saccharin / Q000378:metabolism; D014050:Toluene / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000348:Aflatoxins; D002273:Carcinogens; D014050:Toluene; D004997:Ethinyl Estradiol; D004247:DNA; D012439:Saccharin