The induction of mutation and differentiation in mammalian cells by chemicals which initiate or promote tumor formation.

A cell-mediated mutagenesis assay was developed to predict the potential carcinogenic hazard of some environmental chemicals. In this assay, cells with appropriate markers for mutagenesis, such as the Chinese hamster V79 cells, are co-cultivated with cells capable of metabolizing chemical carcinogens. Use of this assay made it possible to demonstrate a relationship between the degree of carcinogenicity and mutagenicity of a series of polycyclic hydrocarbons, nitrosamines and aflatoxins, and to establish means to study organ specificity of some chemical carcinogens. However, most shortterm in vitro assays are designed to detect mutagenic activity and therefore do not detect tumor promoting agents which are devoid of this activity. By analyzing various markers of terminal differentiation in cultured human melanoma and myeloid leukemia cells, we have established a relationship between the activity of a series of tumor promoting phorbol diesters in the mouse skin and their ability to induce terminal differentiation. We suggest that measuring alterations in the differentiation. We suggest that measuring alterations in the differentiation characteristics of some cultured cells may represent an approach by which environmental tumor promoting agents can be studied and detected.