PROCESS AND REAGENT FOR THE SCREENING OF CARCINOGENIC SUBSTANCES AND ANTI-CARCINOGENIC SUBSTANCES

摘要

The invention relates to a method for detecting carcinogenic, specifically anticancer, toxic and neutral substances. The method according to the invention is characterized in that, by measurement of the acid-precipitating radioactive DNA, the synthesis of DNA on a control DNA matrix isolated from healthy tissues is followed, on the one hand, and on a cancerous DNA matrix isolated from cancerous tissues, on the other hand, in an incubation medium containing four deoxyribonucleoside-5'-triphos-phates including a radioactive, and a DNA polymerase enzyme, in the presence of the substance to test; the action of the test substance is compared on four different pairs of DNA, each pair of DNA being constituted by a control DNA and a cancerous DNA originating from tissues of the same organ and from the same animal species, or cells in culture of analogous lines. Carcinogens are recognized by that they stimulate the replication of cancer DNA more strongly than that of control DNA, and specifically anticancer substances by that they inhibit replication, the initiation of replication or the elongation of the DNA chain in synthesis on cancerous DNA matrix, but not on control DNA matrix, toxic substances inhibiting the synthesis of cancer DNA as well as that of control DNA, and neutral substances acting neither on the replicatin of cancer DNA nor on that of control DNA.