Coordinate mutation and transformation of mouse fibroblasts: induction by nitroquinoline oxide and modulation by caffeine.

Mutation and malignant transformation were followed in the same cells. Mouse fibroblasts (C3H 10T 1/2) were mutated and transformed by 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide with similar, approximately linear dose-responses. The presence of caffeine immediately after exposure to 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide potently inhibited mutation and transformation at high but not at low doses of 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide. Whilst the coordinate induction of mutation and transformation could be explained by both a common target (DNA) or a common reactive species hitting several targets, the identical modulation by a DNA repair inhibitor of both end points suggests fundamental similarities in the nature of the lesions leading to mutation and transformation and in the processing of these lesions, implying DNA as target and mutation as one (but not necessarily the sole) required step in transformation.