Carcinogenic Site Research Articles

Short-term salivary acetaldehyde increase due to direct exposure to alcoholic beverages as an additional cancer risk factor beyond ethanol metabolism

BackgroundAn increasing body of evidence now implicates acetaldehyde as a major underlying factor for the carcinogenicity of alcoholic beverages and especially for oesophageal and oral cancer. Acetaldehyde associated with alcohol consumption is regarded as 'carcinogenic to humans' (IARC Group 1), with sufficient evidence available for the oesophagus, head and neck as sites of carcinogenicity. At present, research into the mechanistic aspects of acetaldehyde-related oral cancer has been focused on salivary acetaldehyde that is formed either from ethanol metabolism in the epithelia or from microbial oxidation of ethanol by the oral microflora. This study was conducted to evaluate the role of the acetaldehyde that is found as a component of alcoholic beverages as an additional factor in the aetiology of oral cancer.MethodsSalivary acetaldehyde levels were determined in the context of sensory analysis of different alcoholic beverages (beer, cider, wine, sherry, vodka, calvados, grape marc spirit, tequila, cherry spirit), without swallowing, to exclude systemic ethanol metabolism.ResultsThe rinsing of the mouth for 30 seconds with an alcoholic beverage is able to increase salivary acetaldehyde above levels previously judged to be carcinogenic in vitro, with levels up to 1000 μM in cases of beverages with extreme acetaldehyde content. In general, the highest salivary acetaldehyde concentration was found in all cases in the saliva 30 sec after using the beverages (average 353 μM). The average concentration then decreased at the 2-min (156 μM), 5-min (76 μM) and 10-min (40 μM) sampling points. The salivary acetaldehyde concentration depends primarily on the direct ingestion of acetaldehyde contained in the beverages at the 30-sec sampling, while the influence of the metabolic formation from ethanol becomes the major factor at the 2-min sampling point.ConclusionsThis study offers a plausible mechanism to explain the increased risk for oral cancer associated with high acetaldehyde concentrations in certain beverages.

Site-specific cell proliferation in renal tubular cells by the renal tubular carcinogen tris(2,3-dibromopropyl)phosphate.

Our laboratory has been examining the mechanisms whereby chemicals are mutagenic in short-term in-vitro assays yet are not carcinogenic in 2-year rodent bioassays. Previous studies indicated that mutagenic carcinogens increased the amount of cell turnover in the target organ, but that mutagenic noncarcinogens failed to do so. The present study compares the incidence of cell proliferation in specific regions of the kidney, which is the site of carcinogenicity, with cell proliferation induced in a nontarget tissue, the liver, by the mutagenic renal tubular carcinogen tris(2,3-dibromopropyl)phosphate (TRIS). Renal tubular adenocarcinoma induced by TRIS was the only tumor type identified in male F344 rats, and it was localized in the outer medulla. Male F344 rats were fed a diet containing 0, 50, or 100 ppm TRIS for 14 days. These doses were identical to the doses given in the National Toxicology Program cancer bioassay. Replicating cells were labeled with bromodeoxyuridine administered by an osmotic minipump and identified in tissue sections from liver and kidney using immunohistochemical techniques. Examination of liver sections showed no chemically related increases in cell proliferation above control for either dose group. However, in the kidney, TRIS induced significant cell proliferation that was localized in the renal outer medulla region, the target area for carcinogenesis. The labeling index (number of labeled cells/total number of cells counted) in the kidneys of TRIS-exposed rats was increased approximately 4-fold in the outer medulla and was not increased in the cortex or inner medulla. The results of this study suggest an association between the chemically-induced renal cell proliferation and the renal carcinogenicity of TRIS.

Absence of morphologic correlation between chemical toxicity and chemical carcinogenesis.

The experimental data set used to evaluate site-specific histopathologic correspondence between the morphologic end points of toxicity and carcinogenicity comprises 130 chemical carcinogenesis studies. Nearly 1500 sex-species-exposure-group experiments were evaluated for a) evidence of toxicity or/and carcinogenicity, b) dose-response relationships, c) site-specific correlations of toxicity and carcinogenicity, and d) correspondence with Salmonella mutagenicity. The major conclusions are that chemicals evaluated for long-term toxicity and carcinogenicity in experimental animals divide typically and consistently into three categories: a) chemicals causing organ toxicity without cancer, b) chemicals causing site-specific cancer with no associated toxicity, and c) chemicals causing both toxicity and cancer in the same organ. Few chemicals overall (and none in this data set) fit the remaining group that cause neither toxicity nor carcinogenicity under these protocol conditions. Mutagenicity exhibited no consistent pattern with any of these groupings. Only 7 of 53 "positive" chemicals had target organ toxicity at all sites of carcinogenicity. Just three chemicals showed carcinogenic effects at the highest exposure concentrations without supporting evidence of tumors at the lower levels. From these comparative morphological analyses, and for almost all cases, available data do not support a correlation between chemically induced toxicity or regenerative phenomena and carcinogenicity. Consequently, until scientific knowledge about molecular mechanisms of chemical carcinogenesis becomes better understood and generally accepted, attempts to use toxicity findings to modify risk assessment processes will be fraught with uncertainty and thus could have a negative impact on public health.