PROSPECTS OF SOS CHROMOTEST USAGE IN PRED ICTING THE CARCINOGENIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL-COMPOUNDS

When studying the carcinogenic activity of a compound, one of the basi c problems is to determine the predictability of the methods used for testing; in our opinion, the most promising method is the SOS chromote st. To evaluate the test, we sampled 25 substances with a known carcin ogenic activity, which had not been tested with the SOS chromotest bef ore. Properties of the SOS chromotest were analyzed on the basis of a database containing 154 substances at present, which are characterized with regard to the presence or absence of a carcinogenic effect in ro dents. The results are distributed as follows: 121 carcinogens, of whi ch 79 positively respond to the SOS chromotest; 33 noncarcinogenes, of which 28 negatively respond to the SOS chromotest. The sensitivity an d specificity of the SOS chromotest were measured as 65.3 and 84.9%, r espectively. Comparing the results obtained with the Ames test and wit h the SOS chromotest, it was shown that the tests were similar in sens itivity and specificity. A similar predictability of both methods was also recorded.