Studies of host factors in carcinogenesis using cultured human tissues and cells

Recent progress in the development of conditions for culturing epithelial tissues and cells from adult humans has provided cancer researchers with an opportunity to investigate directly the various facets of carcinogenesis in human cells. Studies of activation and deactivation of several classes of chemical carcinogens have revealed that the metabolic pathways and the predominant adducts formed with DNA are generally similar in humans and experimental animals. Wide quantitative interindividual differences are found in humans and other outbred animal species. When the metabolic capabilities of specimens from different levels of biological organization are compared, the profile of benzo[a]pyrene metabolites is similar in cultured tissues and cells, but subcellular fractions, e.g., microsomes, produce a qualitatively and quantitatively aberrant pattern. To test the interactive effects of cell types in the metabolic activation of carcinogens and to assess further interindividual differences among people, human tissue- and cell-mediated mutagenesis assays have been developed. The fact that terminally differentiated cells such as pulmonary alveolar macrophages can activate benzo[a]pyrene and mediate an increase in frequencies of mutations and sister chromatid exchanges in cocultivated 'detector' cell populations, i.e., Chinese hamster V79 cells, suggests that non-target cells of chemical carcinogens may play an important role in the activation of environmental carcinogens. Malignant transformation of human epithelial and fibroblastic cells in vitro has been accomplished by several research groups. Asbestos, a cocarcinogenic agent in bronchogenic carcinogenesis, has been found to induce polyploid epithelial lesions with atypical cells in human bronchial explants. Carcinogenesis studies using cultured human tissues and cells are providing new insights into the mechanisms of carcinogenesis and are useful in identifying host factors that influence individual risk to environmental carcinogens.