Mutagenic potential of peripheral blood leukocytes: in vivo exposure to the carcinogen 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene, and the tumor promoter 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol acetate followed by in vitro co-culture with AS52 cells

Co-culture of AS52 cells with peripheral blood leukocytes (PBLs), obtained from SENCAR mice topically treated with either tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TEA) or 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-TPA, resulted in a 7–160-fold increase in the mutation frequency of the gpt gene in AS52 cells when compared to that induced by PBLs isolated from mice treated with either acetone or DMBA. This increase in mutation frequency was inhibited by the anti-oxidant (−)epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). These results demonstrate that the AS52 cell line can be used as a mammalian mutagenesis model for the study of in vivo mechanism(s) of mutagenesis by leukocytes and also as a model for in vivo chemoprevention studies.