U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's revised guidelines for carcinogen risk assessment: evaluating a postulated mode of carcinogenic action in guiding dose–response extrapolation

Abstract

There are new opportunities to using data from molecular and cellular studies in order to bring together a fuller biological understanding of how chemicals induce neoplasia. In 1996, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a proposal to replace its 1986 Guidelines for Carcinogen Risk Assessment to take advantage of these new scientific advances in cancer biology. The analytical framework within the new guidelines focuses on an understanding of the mode of carcinogenic action. Mode of action data come into play in a couple of ways in these new guidelines. For example, such information can inform the dose–response relationship below the experimental observable range of tumours. Thus, mode of action data can be useful in establishing more appropriate guidance levels for environmental contaminants. It is the understanding of the biological processes that lead to tumour development along with the response data derived from experimental studies that can help discern the shape of the dose–response at low doses (linear vs. nonlinear). Because it is experimentally difficult to establish “true thresholds” from others with a nonlinear dose–response relationship, the proposed guidelines take a practical approach to depart from low-dose linear extrapolation procedures when there is sufficient experimental support for a mode of action consistent with nonlinear biological processes (e.g., tumours resulting from the disruption of normal physiological processes).