APPLICATION OF IN-VITRO CELL-TRANSFORMATION ASSAYS TO PREDICT THE CARCINOGENIC POTENTIAL OF CHEMICALS

Genotoxicity test batteries have become a standard tool for identifyin g chemicals that may have potential carcinogenic risk to humans. It is now apparent, however, that the use of genotoxicity batteries for ass essing carcinogenic potential has limitations including an overall low specificity and a limited ability to detect carcinogens acting via 'n ongenotoxic' mechanisms. In vitro cell transformation models, because they measure a chemical's ability to induce preneoplastic or neoplasti c endpoints regardless of mechanism, may fulfil the current need for a n in vitro biologically relevant model with increased predictiveness f or determining carcinogenic potential. This review will focus on data demonstrating the similarities of chemically induced cell transformati on in vitro to carcinogenesis in vivo. Furthermore, a growing database demonstrating a high overall correlation between cell transformation results with those of the rodent bioassay will also be discussed. Fina lly, the inclusion of cell transformation approaches for assessing the carcinogenic potential of chemicals relative to currently used genoto xicity batteries will be presented.