Chemical-Induced DNA Damage Identification by High-Throughput Detection of DNA Double-Strand Break.

Numerous chemicals cause diverse types of DNA damage in cells. However, the failure of DNA repair associated with the formation of these lesions converts the diverse forms of DNA damage into the more severe form of damage, the DNA double-strand break (DSB). The DSB is also considered an early factor in the carcinogenic process. Therefore, analytical methods for detecting DSBs can contribute to the detection of carcinogenic chemicals. γH2AX has been widely used as a highly sensitive marker for DSB, and analytical methods using flow cytometry have excellent quantitative properties. I further attempted to simplify and expedite the method while maintaining its quantitative performance and established a high-throughput DSB quantification method. In this section, I present a simple method for evaluating the DNA damage potential of chemicals in terms of DSB formation.