Attempts to control cancer involve a variety of means, including the use of suppressing, blocking and transforming agents. Suppressing agents prevent the formation of new cancers from pro-carcinogens, blocking agents prevent carcinogenic compounds from reaching critical initiation sites, while transformation agents act to facilitate the metabolism of carcinogenic components into less toxic mate...

The International Agency for Research on Cancer recently convened a Working Group of Experts (June 11-18, 1991) to discuss the use of information on carcinogenesis mechanisms in carcinogenic risk identification. The role of cell proliferation in carcinogenesis was among the items discussed in detail. It was recognized that cell proliferation is an important mechanistic aspect for both genotoxic...

The mode of action of carcinogenic agents is one of the most fundamental problems of cancer research. Available evidence clearly indicates that the potentiality of malignant transformation of any normal cell type is determined, in part at least, by hereditary factors. I t would seem reasonable, therefore, for the study of the mode of action of carcinogens, to select cell types possessing a favo...

Certain human diseases have been traced to exposure to environmental and occupational chemicals. In many instances the first evidence of potential adverse effects came from experimental studies and were subsequently discovered in humans. Associations of human cancers, as a diverse group of diseases, and chemicals have been made since the middle 1700s. Since then, nearly 100 chemicals, mixtures ...

Health risk analysis needs to apply newer developments in the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of the carcinogenic process which has allowed for the classification of chemical carcinogens into those that damage genetic material directly (genotoxic carcinogens) and those that operate by indirect or epigenetic mechanisms. We propose a systematic decision point approach for detecting and...

The reaction of DNA-damaging agents with the genome results in a plethora of lesions, commonly referred to as adducts. Adducts may cause DNA to mutate, they may represent the chemical precursors of lethal events and they can disrupt expression of genes. Determination of which adduct is responsible for each of these biological endpoints is difficult, but this task has been accomplished for some ...

The efficacy of chemotherapeutic drug in cancer treatment is often hampered by drug resistance of tumor cells, which is usually caused by abnormal gene expression. RNA interference mediated by siRNA and miRNA can selectively knock down the carcinogenic genes by targeting specific mRNAs. Therefore, combining chemotherapeutic drugs with gene agents could be a promising strategy for cancer therapy...

It has repeatedly been demonstrated that the nature of the diet can influence the rate at which hepatic tumors develop in rats fed p-dimethylaminoazobenzene. Dietary factors that retard the formation of such tumors include riboflavin (6, 14), hydrogenated coconut oil (10, 11) and several others. Dietary factors that accelerate tumor formation under these conditions include the crude mixture of ...