A novel method of analyzing environmental chemical mutagens in human cell systems

Abstract

Estimation of levels of plasminogen activator (PA)-like protease activity in peripheral blood lymphocytes was demonstrated to be a rapid and sensitive method for screening chemicals with mutagenic activity in mammalian cells. The combination of the PA induction test and K-ras codon 12 mutation assay was suitable for screening the mutagenic chemicals at very low concentrations. Using these methods, the mutagenicity of chlorpropham (CIPC) and di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) was demonstrated in cultured human cells.