Cancer biology and hormesis: commentary

Abstract

The observation of biphasic dose-response relationships following exposure to pharmacological and toxicological agents has been well documented. In this review Dr. Calabrese, using published data on human tumor cell lines treated with a variety of agents has provided additional support for the demonstration of hormesis in the cancer process. While this review has restricted the examination to human tumor cell lines, this limitation dose not take away from the value of the treatise and helps to point out the need for further analysis of the biphasic does response in other cancer models including in vivo carcinogenesis studies and human cancer epidemiology. This issue is further enhanced when the potential mechanisms for hormetic responses in the cancer cells are discussed, since the same mechanisms participate in the carcinogenesis process. Overall, this review provides an excellent opening examination into the definition of biphasic dose-response effects of toxic and pharmacological agents in cancer cells.