Radioimmunoassay used to detect DNA alkylation adducts in tissues from populations at high risk for oesophageal and stomach cancer.

N-Nitrosamines are alkylating agents capable of forming various covalent adducts with DNA in vivo. Since formation of promutagenic DNA adducts, particularly O6-methyldeoxyguanosine (O6-medGuo), has been implicated as an initiating event in nitrosamine-induced carcinogenesis, we have used radioimmunoassay (RIA) to probe for such damage in surgical tissue samples from cancer patients in populations likely to be exposed environmentally to nitrosamines.