Studies on Chemically Induced Neoplastic Transformation and Mutation in the BALB/3T3 Cl A31-1-1 Cell Line in Relation to the Quantitative Evaluation of Carcinogens

Abstract

Mutagenesis and neoplastic transformation assays on mammalian cells in culture have been extensively used for quantitative estimates of the activity of carcinogens, in spite of the limitations that such in vitro systems have when compared with in vivo systems for tumor induction. In order to assess the validity of these correlations, a series of studies was undertaken in our laboratory with the BALB/3T3 Cl A31-1-1 mouse embryo cell line. Different carcinogens were found to induce dose-dependent frequencies of transformation, including the direct-acting alkylating agent N-methyI- N'-nitro- N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) and carcinogens that were metabolically activated by these cells through different pathways (benzo[a]pyrene, 3-methylcholanthrene, aflatoxin B1, and benzidine). Their respective level of activity on a molar basis was different from that obtained in standard Salmonella + S9 mutagenesis tests. Studies currently underway indicate the possibility of lowering the serum content in the medium considerably, thereby reducing a major variable in the assay. Methods were established for the induction of ouabain-resistant (ouar) mutants in these cells. Studies were conducted by applying 30-min MNNG exposures to cells that were synchronized by serum deprivation followed by serum-induced release from growth block. While maximal induction of mutants occurred in the S phase, the transformation frequency remained constant for treatments in G1 and early or late S. In subsequent studies, cytotoxicity, alkali-labile DNA lesions, ouar mutations, and neoplastic transformation were analyzed concurrently in this cell line after cells were exposed to two concentrations of MNNG and the exposures were protracted for different time periods (30, 60, 90, 120, and 240 min; 24, 48, and 72 hr). A marked temporal dissociation was found in the exposure times required to induce maximal frequencies of mutations and of transformation. Cytotoxicity increased for periods up to 100-200 min; mutations reached a maximal induction level after a much shorter exposure time (30-60 min); DNA damage detected by alkaline elution was already maximal by 30 min. Transformation frequencies, however, reached maximal levels only after exposure periods 1-3 hr longer than those required for maximal mutation. The ratio of transformation to ouar mutation frequencies was 3.7 for short treatment times (30-60 min), but it increased to more than 20 for exposure times of 240 min or longer. These studies support the hypothesis that a single gene mutational event is not sufficient to account for the expression of neoplastic transformation.