Evaluation of Genotoxic Effects in Human Populations

摘要

There are demonstrable associations in experimental animals between DNA damage in somatic cells and the development of cancer, and between DNA damage in germ cells and the incidence of genetic disease in offspring. Thus, there is substantial evidence of the need to detect and to quantitate chemically-induced genetic damage in humans in order to assess the potential for cancer and genetic disease. Current methods for estimating human risk of cancer have been based on knowledge of human exposure and epidemiological data. An alternative approach would base such estimates of risk on knowledge of exposure and of damage to the DNA of human cells and tissues. The principal difficulty in performing such assessments lies in the uncertainty of translating information from tests for genetic damage in human cells and tissues into reliable estimates of risk for cancer or genetic disease. This poster concerns: (1) the development of mammalian cell methods that may be used ultimately to evaluate genotoxic effects in humans and (2) our initial attempts to implement a 'parallelogram' approach whereby such methods can be used, collectively, to relate quantitative information on genetic damage to quantitative estimates of risk for cancer or genetic disease.