Abstract
Environmental factors exert important influences on cancer development in humans. Cancer is now one of the major causes of death in our country, and it is necessary to search for mutagens and carcinogens in our environment to obtain information for evaluation of relationships with cancer patterns. My group has been involved in the identification of novel types of environmental mutagens and carcinogens and also in the study of mechanisms underlying colon carcinogenesis in rodents. The following results were obtained: 1) various kinds of mutagenic and carcinogenic heterocyclic amines were identified in cooked foods; 2) aminophenylnorharman was identified as a mutagenic compound formed from norharman and aniline in the presence of S9 mix; 3) mutagens and carcinogens were shown to be produced by the reaction of environmental aromatic compounds with nitrite; 4) eight kinds of phenylbenzotriazole compounds were isolated and identified as mutagens from river water in Japan; 5) enhancing effects of hyperlipidemia were demonstrated in intestinal carcinogenesis. In this review, roles of environmental factors in cancer development and related approaches to possible cancer prevention in humans are discussed.
