[Peroxisome proliferation and possible cancer hazard].

Approximately 80 chemicals, including hypolipidemic fibrates, have been shown to induce peroxisome proliferation in rodent liver. There is a strong concordance between this effect and development of liver cancer in rats and mice. There is evidence that the peroxisome proliferators induce cancer via a non-genotoxic, receptor-mediated mechanism. Both oxidative stress as a consequence of peroxisome proliferation and preferential growth of preneoplastic lesions following hepatocyte proliferation have been proposed as underlying processes in the neoplastic development. Peroxisome proliferation does not seem to occur in human liver to any significant extent. Therefore exposure to chemicals with such an effect apparently represents little, if any, human carcinogenic hazard.