In vitro inhibition of DNA adduct formation by hindered hydroquinols and quinones.

A series of thirty-one chemicals (substituted phenols, hydroquinols, quinones and quinoneimines) were investigated as in vitro inhibitors of DNA-benzo[a]pyrene adducts formation. In order to establish the mechanisms by which such compounds may elicit a protective effect at DNA level, the influence of these compounds upon benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) activation by 3-methyl-cholanthrene-stimulated microsomes was also studied. The data obtained suggest that the tested compounds act mainly (but not only) by BaP metabolism inhibition.

Estradiol and progesterone receptors in human cutaneous melanoma.

The presence of estradiol and progesterone receptors (ER and PR, respectively) was assessed in 24 removed cutaneous melanomas, adapting the routine procedure used for the detection of the presence of these steroid hormone receptors in breast cancers. The study included only those cases which were not subjected to any anticancer therapy before surgery. The ER and PR values were comparable to those found in breast cancer and the tumors thus investigated could be classified in the same four distinct groups, namely ER+PR+, ER+PR-, ER-PR+, and ER-PR-.

Information of genome sequences and molecular basis of cancer.

This survey paper presents in a widely accessible form a thermodynamical approach to cancerogenesis and its relevance and utility for molecular biologists; it also suggests a possible definition of information contained in genome and of entropy leaps during cell transformation. A scenario concerning the amplification of an initial alteration in the genomic information during cancerogenesis is proposed, and its implication in our knowledge about spatial and temporal pattern of oncogenes and suppressor genes cooperation during cancerogenesis is discussed.

A new class of potential carcinogenesis inhibitors: hindered p-benzoquinones.

The investigation of the mechanisms of action by which phenolic antioxidants (i.e. BHA, BHT, etc.