Target organs in chronic bioassays of 533 chemical carcinogens

Abstract

A compendium of carcinogenesis bioassay results organized by target organ is presented for 533 chemicals that are carcinogenic in at least one species. This compendium is based primarily on experiments in rats or mice; results in hamsters, nonhuman primates, and dogs are also reported. The compendium can be used to identify chemicals that induce tumors at particular sites, and to determine whether target sites are the same for chemicals positive in more than one species. The Carcinogenic Potency Database (CPDB), which includes results of 3969 experiments, is used in the analysis. The published CPDB includes details on each test, and literature references. Chemical carcinogens are reported for 35 different target organs in rats or mice. More than 80% of the carcinogens in each of these species are positive in at least one of the 8 most frequent target sites: liver, lung, mammary gland, stomach, vascular system, kidney, hematopoietic system, and urinary bladder. An analysis is presented of how well one can predict the carcinogenic response in mice from results in rats, or vice versa. Among chemicals tested in both species, 76% of rat carcinogens are positive in mice, and 71% of mouse carcinogens are positive in rats. Prediction is less accurate to the same target site: 52% of rat carcinogens are positive in the same site in mice, and 48% of mouse carcinogens are positive in the same site in rats. The liver is the most frequent site in common between rats and mice.