Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 17, 2026
In Vitro Evaluation of Oncogenic Transformation in Human Mammary Epithelial Cells
Published on: September 24, 2020
In vitro cell transformation assays for an integrated, alternative assessment of carcinogenicity: a data-based
Romualdo Benigni1, Cecilia Bossa, Olga Tcheremenskaia
1Environment and Health Department, Istituto Superiore di Sanita', Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy. romualdo.benigni@iss.it
Abstract:
The study of the chemical carcinogenesis mechanisms and the design of efficient prevention strategies and measures are of crucial importance to protect human health. The long-term carcinogenesis bioassays have played a central role in protecting human health, but for ethical and practical reasons their use is dramatically diminishing, and the genotoxicity short-term tests have taken the pivotal role in the pre-screening of carcinogenicity. However, there is evidence that this strategy is not sensitive enough to detect all genotoxic carcinogens and it cannot detect nongenotoxic carcinogens. In a previous article, we have shown that an integrated strategy consisting of the in vitro Ames and Syrian Hamster Embryo cells transformation assays, combined with structure-activity relationships, is a valid alternative to the present pre-screening strategies. Here, we expand the previous investigation by (i) including results of cell transformation assays on inorganics, together with an additional assay (Bhas 42), and (ii) considering new structural alerts for nongenotoxic carcinogenicity. We also present a new analysis on global relationships between toxicological endpoints. The new results confirm that the previously proposed integrated, alternative strategy is an efficient tool to identify both genotoxic and nongenotoxic carcinogens, with an estimated 90-95% sensitivity.
Insights
An integrated strategy using cell transformation assays and structure-activity relationships effectively identifies genotoxic and nongenotoxic carcinogens, offering a sensitive alternative to traditional methods for chemical carcinogenesis research.
Area of Science:
- Toxicology and Carcinogenesis
- In vitro and In silico Methods
Background:
- Traditional long-term carcinogenesis bioassays are declining due to ethical and practical concerns.
- Current short-term genotoxicity tests have limitations in detecting all carcinogens.
- An integrated strategy combining in vitro assays and structure-activity relationships (SAR) was previously proposed as an alternative.
Purpose of the Study:
- To expand and validate the integrated strategy for identifying both genotoxic and nongenotoxic carcinogens.
- To incorporate new data, including inorganic compounds and additional cell transformation assays (Bhas 42).
- To consider novel structural alerts for nongenotoxic carcinogenicity and analyze toxicological endpoint relationships.
Main Methods:
- Utilized in vitro cell transformation assays (e.g., Ames test, Syrian Hamster Embryo cells, Bhas 42).
- Integrated results with structure-activity relationships (SAR) for predicting carcinogenicity.
- Included inorganic compounds and new structural alerts for nongenotoxic carcinogens in the analysis.
Main Results:
- The expanded integrated strategy demonstrated high efficiency in identifying carcinogens.
- The approach showed an estimated sensitivity of 90-95% for detecting both genotoxic and nongenotoxic carcinogens.
- New analyses confirmed the robustness of the integrated strategy as a valid alternative pre-screening tool.
Conclusions:
- The proposed integrated strategy is an efficient and sensitive method for carcinogen identification.
- This approach overcomes limitations of traditional bioassays and genotoxicity tests.
- The findings support the adoption of this integrated strategy for chemical carcinogenesis research and prevention.
Related Concept Videos
01:25Mutagenicity and Carcinogenicity
01:16In vitro Mutagenesis
01:16In-vitro Mutagenesis