Evaluation of the yeast DEL assay with 10 compounds selected by the International Program on Chemical Safety for the evaluation of short-term tests for carcinogens.
The Saccharomyces cerevisiae DEL assay detects a wide variety of nonmutagenic carcinogens (Schiestl et al. (1989) Carcinogenesis, 10, 1445-1455). This study shows the effect on DEL recombination of 8 carcinogenic compounds (o-toluidine, hexamethylphosphoramide, safrole, acrylonitrile, benzene, diethylhexylphthalate, phenobarbital and diethylstilbestrol) and 2 noncarcinogenic compounds (caprolactam and benzoin). These chemicals have been selected by the Program on Chemical Safety for the evaluation of short-term tests for carcinogens, because sufficient carcinogenicity data for these compounds exist, and because they are difficult to detect with the Salmonella assay. 5 of 8 carcinogens reproducibly gave a strong positive response and the noncarcinogen benzoin was negative. Thus, 60% of the chemicals tested in this study have been correctly identified with the DEL assay compared to only 20% with the Salmonella assay.
Carls
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Department of Molecular and Cellular Toxicology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115.
Schiestl
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D000181:Acrylonitrile / Q000633:toxicity; D001554:Benzene / Q000633:toxicity; D002273:Carcinogens / Q000633:toxicity*; D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D004051:Diethylhexyl Phthalate / Q000633:toxicity; D004054:Diethylstilbestrol / Q000633:toxicity; D006492:Hempa / Q000633:toxicity; D009152:Mutagenicity Tests / Q000379:methods*; D010634:Phenobarbital / Q000633:toxicity; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D012451:Safrole / Q000633:toxicity; D014052:Toluidines / Q000633:toxicity
D002273:Carcinogens; D014052:Toluidines; D004054:Diethylstilbestrol; C023622:2-toluidine; D004051:Diethylhexyl Phthalate; D001554:Benzene; D006492:Hempa; D000181:Acrylonitrile; D012451:Safrole; D010634:Phenobarbital