Chemistry and metabolism of metals relevant to their carcinogenicity.

A variety of metals have been implicated in carcinogenesis in both animal and human studies. It is our purpose here to consider possible molecular mechanisms for the induction of cancer, not only by already identified metal carcinogens, but also by metal ions generally. The reason for this approach is that present knowledge ofhuman metal carcinogens has come about haphazardly, as a result of effects produced in certain places where a population has been subjected to an unusual concentration of certain metals. Carcinogenic metals thus identified resemble in their chemistry and biochemistry other metals that have not been so characterized. Since