Reactions of Carcinogenic and Related Compounds with Cellular Constituents

Important information regarding the reactions of carcinogenic and related hydrocarbons has been obtained chiefly from the following four previous lines of investigation : ( a ) The extensive study of methods of synthesis of carcinogenic hydrocarbons by the technics of the organic chemist (4). ( b ) The experimental study of the oxidative and coupling reactions of such hydrocarbons under conditions which may give rise to derivatives similar to those resulting from subjection of the hydrocarbons to the metabolic processes of the living cell (3, 5 ) . (c) The experimental study of the effects of carcinogenic hydrocarbons and their simple derivatives or their soluble choleic acids or endosuccinic acids upon enzyme or other model systems comparable with those obtaining in living cells (2, 8). ( d ) The empirical comparison of the structural relationships of the carcinogenic hydrocarbons to biologically important sterols, sex hormones, glucosides, bile acids and related substances, with a view to determining the possibilities of conversion of such normally occurring substances into carcinogenic agents inside the body (4). Since the most active carcinogenic agents are hydrocarbons having no functional groups, and since those simple polar derivatives of these hydrocarbons which have so far been examined exhibit little, if any, carcinogenic activity, it appears important to study the reactions into which the polycyclic hydrocarbons may enter without acquiring any functional group or undergoing other permanent chemical change. The experiments to be described in the present paper were directed toward this objective. They were conducted with a view to defining the chemical and physical factors which may contribute to an interaction of polycyclic hydrocarbons with well characterized structural and functional components of the living cell, such as sterols, proteins, phosphatides, and fats, They were not designed to establish empirical parallels between the effects of carcinogenic hydrocarbons on model systems and on living animals. As an initid phase in this investigation the interactions of carcinogenic and