Carcinogenesis in mouse and human cells: parallels and paradoxes

It has been known since the last century that genetic changes are important in carcinogenesis [Boveri,T. (1914) Zur Frage der Erstehung Maligner Tumor en. Gustav Fischer, Jena]. Observations of tumor cells growing in tissue cu lture led to the prediction, even before the true nature of the genetic mat erial was known, that alterations at the chromosomal level were critically involved in the process of neoplastic development. The past 20 gears have s een the transition of carcinogenesis studies from the purely observational to the molecular genetic level. Although much more needs to be done, it is nevertheless gratifying to be able to piece together the sequence of events from carcinogen exposure, metabolism of the carcinogen to the activated fo rm, formation of specific carcinogen-DNA adducts, misrepair leading to the fixation of mutations in particular target genes, and the resulting selecti ve outgrowth of neoplastic cells. The nature of manly of these steps has be en clarified only in the relatively recent past, and only for a small numbe r of specific target genes, but the fact that we can say with confidence th at such processes occur and are causal changes in tumorigenesis represents a tremendous advance over the situation pertaining 20 years ago. The purpos e of this review is to summarize the advances over this time period in our understanding of some of the genetic alterations that contribute to neoplas ia, with particular emphasis on chemical carcinogenesis in rodents and the parallels with transformation of human cells.