In vitro prediction of carcinogenicity using a bovine papillomavirus DNA--carrying C3H/10T 1/2 cell line (T1). II: Results from the testing of 100 chemicals.
A new in vitro test for identifying carcinogens is evaluated against a testing database of 100 chemicals including the following groups: steroids, antineoplastics, PCBs, dioxins, alkyl halides, aromatic amines, nitrogen heterocycles, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, mustards, and benzodioxoles. The assay uses focus formation in a stable, BPV-1-DNA-carrying C3H/10T 1/2 mouse embryo fibroblast cell line (T1), which does not require transfection, infection with virus, or isolation of primary cells from animals. For this group of chemicals, the T1 assay correctly predicted the rodent carcinogenicity or noncarcinogenicity of 77% of the chemicals for which carcinogenicity is reported. Based on published data the bacterial mutagenicity assay would have correctly predicted carcinogenicity or noncarcinogenicity of 53% of the chemicals. The Syrian hamster embryo test would have correctly predicted carcinogenicity or noncarcinogenicity of 61% of the chemicals. We also demonstrate dose--response relationships for two of the chemicals. We report the responses of T1 cells to the group of chemicals used in the International Life Sciences Institute's program for screening of alternative methods of predicting carcinogenicity.