Articles

The effect of polymorphisms (174G> C and 572C> G) on the Interleukin-6 gene in coronary artery disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is caused by the blockage of the coronary arteries. it is argued that there has an association between the Interleukin-6 gene and the occurrence of atherosclerosis, coronary arter...

Authors: Nader Salari, Kamran Mansouri, Amin Hosseinian-Far, Hooman Ghasemi, Masoud Mohammadi, Rostam Jalali and Aliakbar Vaisi-Raygani

In memory of Dr. Takashi Sugimura, 1926–2020

Authors: Masami Yamada

Screening for Ames mutagenicity of food flavor chemicals by (quantitative) structure-activity relationship

(Quantitative) Structure-Activity Relationship ((Q)SAR) is a promising approach to predict the potential adverse effects of chemicals based on their structure without performing toxicological studies. We evalu...

Authors: Masamitsu Honma, Airi Kitazawa, Toshio Kasamatsu and Kei-ichi Sugiyama

Report of the Joint Meeting of the 6th Asian Congress on Environmental Mutagens and the 48th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Environmental Mutagen Society, Tokyo, November 18–20, 2019

The 6th Asian Congress on Environmental Mutagens (ACEM) was held at Hitotsubashi Hall, Chiyoda City, Tokyo on November 18–20, 2019, in conjunction with the 48th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Environmental Mut...

Authors: Masamitsu Honma

Oxidation resistance 1 functions in the maintenance of cellular survival and genome stability in response to oxidative stress-independent DNA damage

DNA damage is generated by various intrinsic and extrinsic sources such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) and environmental mutagens, and causes genomic alterations. DNA damage response (DDR) is activated to in...

Authors: Ako Matsui, Kazunari Hashiguchi, Masao Suzuki and Qiu-Mei Zhang-Akiyama

New indicator Escherichia coli strain for rapid and accurate detection of supF mutations

The supF gene of Escherichia coli is useful for forward mutation analysis in bacterial and mammalian cells used in mutagenesis and DNA repair studies. Indicator E. coli strains, such as KS40/pOF105, have been use...

Authors: Ruriko Fukushima, Tetsuya Suzuki and Hiroyuki Kamiya

The importance of expert review to clarify ambiguous situations for (Q)SAR predictions under ICH M7

The use of in silico predictions for the assessment of bacterial mutagenicity under the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH) M7 guideline is...

Authors: Robert S. Foster, Adrian Fowkes, Alex Cayley, Andrew Thresher, Anne-Laure D. Werner, Chris G. Barber, Grace Kocks, Rachael E. Tennant, Richard V. Williams, Steven Kane and Susanne A. Stalford

Effects of smoking cessation on biological monitoring markers in urine

Urinary nicotine and cotinine levels are often measured as biomarkers for tobacco smoke exposure. However, these biomarkers are not appropriate to evaluate the effects of quitting smoking for several days, bec...

Authors: Yuya Kawasaki, Yun-Shan Li, Yuko Ootsuyama, Kazuhiko Nagata, Hiroshi Yamato and Kazuaki Kawai

Mutagenic, Genotoxic and Immunomodulatory effects of Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine: a review to evaluate its potential to use as a prophylactic drug against COVID-19

Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and Chloroquine (CQ) are two anti-malarial drugs that are now being extensively used by front-line healthcare workers and other common people as a prophylactic drug against the Corona ...

Authors: Allan Giri, Ankita Das, Ajoy K. Sarkar and Ashok K. Giri

DNA hypomethylation drives changes in MAGE-A gene expression resulting in alteration of proliferative status of cells

Melanoma Antigen Genes (MAGEs) are a family of genes that have piqued the interest of scientists for their unique expression pattern. A subset of MAGEs (Type I) are expressed in spermatogonial cells and in no ...

Authors: Ashley Colemon, Taylor M. Harris and Saumya Ramanathan

An assessment of mutagenicity of chemical substances by (quantitative) structure–activity relationship

Currently, there are more than 100,000 industrial chemicals substances produced and present in our living environments. Some of them may have adverse effects on human health. Given the rapid expansion in the n...

Authors: Masamitsu Honma

In vitro toxicological assessment of gadolinium (III) chloride in V79–4 fibroblasts

Rare earth minerals of the lanthanide series are widely used in the field of medical and clinical application. Gadolinium (Gd), the most preferred rare earth mineral is frequently used as magnets, superconduct...

Authors: Ee Ling Siew, Ahmad Faizzudin Farris, Noramiwati Rashid, Kok Meng Chan and Nor Fadilah Rajab

The failure of two major formaldehyde catabolism enzymes (ADH5 and ALDH2) leads to partial synthetic lethality in C57BL/6 mice

Exogenous formaldehyde is classified by the IARC as a Category 1 known human carcinogen. Meanwhile, a significant amount of endogenous formaldehyde is produced in the human body; as such, formaldehyde-derived ...

Authors: Jun Nakamura, Darcy W. Holley, Toshihiro Kawamoto and Scott J. Bultman

Construction of reporter gene assays using CWP and PDR mutant yeasts for enhanced detection of various sex steroids

Sex steroid hormone receptors are classified into three classes of receptors: estrogen receptors (ER) α and β, androgen receptor (AR), and progesterone receptor (PR). They belong to the nuclear receptor superf...

Authors: Sayoko Ito-Harashima, Mami Matano, Kana Onishi, Tomofumi Nomura, Saki Nakajima, Shingo Ebata, Kazuhiro Shiizaki, Masanobu Kawanishi and Takashi Yagi

Effects of the scid mutation on X-ray-induced deletions in the brain and spleen of gpt delta mice

DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK), consisting of a Ku heterodimer (Ku70/80) and a large catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs), plays an important role in the repair of DNA double-strand breaks via non-homologous en...

Authors: Kenichi Masumura, Fumio Yatagai, Masako Ochiai, Hitoshi Nakagama and Takehiko Nohmi

Role of extra cellular proteins in gastric cancer progression and metastasis: an update

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common cancers in the world with a high ratio of mortality. Regarding the late diagnosis, there is a high ratio of distant metastasis among GC cases. Despite the recent p...

Authors: Mohammad Reza Abbaszadegan, Majid Mojarrad and Meysam Moghbeli

Isolation and structure elucidation of constituents of Citrus limon, Isodon japonicus, and Lansium domesticum as the cancer prevention agents

In the course of our research to investigate the cancer prevention potency of natural products derived from plant materials, we isolated fifty-five compounds, including twenty-one new compounds from the peels of

Authors: Takahiro Matsumoto and Tetsushi Watanabe

Genotoxicity of micro- and nano-particles of kaolin in human primary dermal keratinocytes and fibroblasts

Kaolin is a clay mineral with the chemical composition Al₂Si₂O₅(OH)₄. It is an important industrial material, and is also used as a white cosmetic pigment. We previously reported that fine particles of kaolin hav...

Authors: Masanobu Kawanishi, Reimi Yoneda, Yukari Totsuka and Takashi Yagi

Using FFPE RNA-Seq with 12 marker genes to evaluate genotoxic and non-genotoxic rat hepatocarcinogens

Various challenges have been overcome with regard to applying ‘omics technologies for chemical risk assessments. Previously we published results detailing targeted mRNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) on a next generatio...

Authors: Chie Furihata, Xinyue You, Takeshi Toyoda, Kumiko Ogawa and Takayoshi Suzuki

Effect of episomally encoded DNA polymerases on chemically induced mutagenesis at the hisG46 target in Ames test

The standard Ames test strains owe their high sensitivity to chemical and physical mutagens to the episomal Y-family DNA polymerase RI encoded by the mucAB operon. The S. typhimurium test strains carry also anoth...

Authors: Petr Grúz, Masatomi Shimizu, Kei-ichi Sugiyama, Masami Yamada and Masamitsu Honma

Bisphenol A enhances adipogenic signaling pathways in human mesenchymal stem cells

The endocrine disruptor Bisphenol-A (BPA), has been involved in dysregulating adipose tissue development and increasing the risk of obesity. The objective of this experiment was to investigate whether treatmen...

Authors: Amin Salehpour, Farzad Shidfar, Mehdi Hedayati, Asal Neshatbini Tehrani, Ali Asghar Farshad and Saeed Mohammadi

Genotyping of a gene cluster for production of colibactin and in vitro genotoxicity analysis of Escherichia coli strains obtained from the Japan Collection of Microorganisms

Colibactin is a small genotoxic molecule produced by enteric bacteria, including certain Escherichia coli (E. coli) strains harbored in the human large intestine. This polyketide-peptide genotoxin is considered t...

Authors: Masanobu Kawanishi, Chiaki Shimohara, Yoshimitsu Oda, Yuuta Hisatomi, Yuta Tsunematsu, Michio Sato, Yuichiro Hirayama, Noriyuki Miyoshi, Yuji Iwashita, Yuko Yoshikawa, Haruhiko Sugimura, Michihiro Mutoh, Hideki Ishikawa, Keiji Wakabayashi, Takashi Yagi and Kenji Watanabe

High-throughput analysis of DNA repair in microplates towards identification of inhibitors

Environmental factors can inhibit DNA repair and cause indirect mutagenic actions. Here the author introduces a recent paper on a novel high-throughput system to analyze the various enzymatic activities involv...

Authors: Hiroyuki Kamiya

Correction to: Genotoxicity assessment of titanium dioxide nanoparticle accumulation of 90 days in the liver of gpt delta transgenic mice

In the original publication of this article [1], the author made a correction but wasn’t carried out.

Authors: Tetsuya Suzuki, Nobuhiko Miura, Rieko Hojo, Yukie Yanagiba, Megumi Suda, Tatsuya Hasegawa, Muneyuki Miyagawa and Rui-Sheng Wang

The in vivo role of Rev1 in mutagenesis and carcinogenesis

Translesion synthesis (TLS) is an error-prone pathway required to overcome replication blockage by DNA damage. Aberrant activation of TLS has been suggested to play a role in tumorigenesis by promoting genetic...

Authors: Megumi Sasatani, Elena Karamfilova Zaharieva and Kenji Kamiya

Preparation of the standard cell lines for reference mutations in cancer gene-panels by genome editing in HEK 293 T/17 cells

Next Generation Sequencer (NGS) is a powerful tool for a high-throughput sequencing of human genome. It is important to ensure reliability and sensitivity of the sequence data for a clinical use of the NGS. Va...

Authors: Takayoshi Suzuki, Yoshinori Tsukumo, Chie Furihata, Mikihiko Naito and Arihiro Kohara

Genotoxicity assessment of titanium dioxide nanoparticle accumulation of 90 days in the liver of gpt delta transgenic mice

A variety of in vivo and in vitro studies to assess the genotoxicity of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO₂ NPs) have been reported, but the results are inconsistent. Recently, we reported that TiO₂ NPs exhibit ...

Authors: Tetsuya Suzuki, Nobuhiko Miura, Rieko Hojo, Yukie Yanagiba, Megumi Suda, Tatsuya Hasegawa, Muneyuki Miyagawa and Rui-Sheng Wang

Nicotine attenuates global genomic DNA methylation by influencing DNMTs gene expression in human endometrial stromal cells

There is increasing evidence indicating an incidence of infertility and also the risk of endometrial cancers among smokers. However, the mechanism underlying nicotine adverse effect on female reproduction rema...

Authors: Fatemeh Zal, Amir Yarahmadi, Hamidreza Totonchi, Mahdi Barazesh and Mostafa Moradi Sarabi

Flow cytometric micronucleus assay and TGx-DDI transcriptomic biomarker analysis of ten genotoxic and non-genotoxic chemicals in human HepaRG™ cells

Modern testing paradigms seek to apply human-relevant cell culture models and integrate data from multiple test systems to accurately inform potential hazards and modes of action for chemical toxicology. In ge...

Authors: Julie K. Buick, Andrew Williams, Rémi Gagné, Carol D. Swartz, Leslie Recio, Stephen S. Ferguson and Carole L. Yauk

The prospective mathematical idea satisfying both radiation hormesis under low radiation doses and linear non-threshold theory under high radiation doses

It has yet to be determined whether or not the probability of developing cancer due to radiation exposure levels of low doses is proportional to the dose. Herein, for radiation hormesis occurring at low doses,...

Authors: Katsuhito Kino

Evaluation of acetone as a solvent for the Ames test

Acetone is a common alternative solvent used in the Ames test when test chemicals are unstable or poorly soluble in water or dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). Yet, there is a very limited number of studies evaluating...

Authors: Tomomi Shibata, Takeshi Yamagata, Akihiro Kawade, Shoji Asakura, Naoki Toritsuka, Naoki Koyama and Atsushi Hakura

Effects of acetaldehyde-induced DNA lesions on DNA metabolism

Acetaldehyde, produced upon exposure to alcohol, cigarette smoke, polluted air and sugar, is a highly reactive compound that is carcinogenic to humans and causes a variety of DNA lesions in living human cells....

Authors: Haruka Tsuruta, Yuina Sonohara, Kosuke Tohashi, Narumi Aoki Shioi, Shigenori Iwai and Isao Kuraoka

Black rain in Hiroshima: a critique to the Life Span Study of A-bomb survivors, basis of the linear no-threshold model

Ionizing radiation is regulated by the linear no-threshold model (LNT), which asserts that the lowest doses of ionizing radiation are hazardous in proportion to the dose and dose rate. LNT is based on the data...

Authors: Shizuyo Sutou

Assessing the endocrine disrupting potentials and genotoxicity in environmental samples from Taiwanese rivers

Surface waters receive a variety of organic pollutants via wastewater discharge, and sediment represents a sink for hydrophobic contaminants. In this study, we used in vitro yeast-based reporter gene assays an...

Authors: Pei-Hsin Chou, Chien-Hsun Chen, Kuang-Yu Chen, Fung-Chi Ko, Tsung-Ya Tsai and Yi-Po Yeh

Acid-specific formaldehyde donor is a potential, dual targeting cancer chemotherapeutic/chemo preventive drug for FANC/BRCA-mutant cancer

Development of chemotherapeutic/preventive drugs that selectively kill cancer - the Holy Grail of cancer research - is a major challenge. A particular difficulty arises when chemotherapeutics and radiation are...

Authors: John R. Ridpath and Jun Nakamura

Antimutagenic components in Spatholobus suberectus Dunn against N-methyl-N-nitrosourea

An extract from Spatholobus suberectus (S. suberectus) Dunn has been reported to show potent antimutagenic effects against N-alkyl-N-nitrosoureas in umu screening. The aim of this study was to identify the antimu...

Authors: Keiko Inami, Yoshihisa Asada, Takumi Harada, Yuta Okayama, Noriko Usui and Masataka Mochizuki

Development of a novel PIG-A gene mutation assay based on a GPI-anchored fluorescent protein sensor

Accumulation of somatic mutations caused by both endogenous and exogenous exposures is a high risk for human health, in particular, cancer. Efficient detection of somatic mutations is crucial for risk assessme...

Authors: Xu Tian, Youjun Chen and Jun Nakamura

Diurnal variation of salivary oxidative stress marker 8-hydroxyguanine

Oxidative stress is a risk factor for life-style related diseases, including cancer. We recently reported that the oxidative stress marker 8-hydroxyguanine (8-OHGua) can be measured in saliva non-invasively. U...

Authors: Sintaroo Watanabe, Yuya Kawasaki and Kazuaki Kawai

Association between ACTN3 and acute mountain sickness

During the process of acclimatization, when our organism needs to adjust several metabolic processes in the attempt of establishing a better oxygenation, it is normal that individuals present some symptoms tha...

Authors: Ricardo Muller Bottura, Giscard Humberto Oliveira Lima, Debora Cristina Hipolide and João Bosco Pesquero

The 32nd summer school of the Research Community for Mechanisms of Mutations

The 32nd summer school of the Research Community for Mechanisms of Mutations was held at Inter-University Seminar House in Hachioji city, Tokyo, from September 7 to 8, 2019. Thirty-eight people attended this a...

Authors: Masanobu Kawanishi

Comprehensive framework between environment and genomic stability: the open symposium of the Japanese Environmental Mutagen Society (JEMS) in 2019

The open symposium of the Japanese Environmental Mutagen Society (JEMS), under the title of “Comprehensive framework between environment and genomic stability,” was held in the Main Conference Room of the Foun...

Authors: Katsuyoshi Horibata, Masashi Sekimoto and Kei-ichi Sugiyama

Effect of MMP-2 gene silencing on radiation-induced DNA damage in human normal dermal fibroblasts and breast cancer cells

Diagnostic and therapeutic ionizing radiation (IR) is one of the well known long term risk factors of breast cancer. Extremely lethal consequences of IR causes double-strand breaks, which are mainly responsibl...

Authors: Gugalavath Shailender, Seema Kumari, Patnala Kiranmayi and Rama Rao Malla

Comparative study of cytotoxic effects induced by environmental genotoxins using XPC- and CSB-deficient human lymphoblastoid TK6 cells

The human genome is constantly exposed to numerous environmental genotoxicants. To prevent the detrimental consequences induced by the expansion of damaged cells, cellular protective systems such as nucleotide...

Authors: Akira Sassa, Takayuki Fukuda, Akiko Ukai, Maki Nakamura, Michihito Takabe, Takeji Takamura-Enya, Masamitsu Honma and Manabu Yasui

Live-cell imaging of macrophage phagocytosis of asbestos fibers under fluorescence microscopy

Frustrated phagocytosis occurs when an asbestos fiber > 10 μm in length is engulfed imperfectly by a macrophage, and it is believed to be associated with chromosomal instability. Few studies have focused on dy...

Authors: Takenori Ishida, Nobutoshi Fujihara, Tomoki Nishimura, Hisakage Funabashi, Ryuichi Hirota, Takeshi Ikeda and Akio Kuroda

Evaluation of the novel liver micronucleus assay using formalin-fixed tissues

The repeated-dose liver micronucleus (RDLMN) assay is an effective and important in vivo test for detecting genotoxic compounds, particularly for those that require metabolic activation to show genotoxicity. I...

Authors: Shuichi Hamada, Miyuki Shigano, Satoru Kawakami, Maya Ueda, Hajime Sui, Katsuya Yamada, Soichiro Hagio, Ayaka Momonami, Akihisa Maeda, Yukari Terashima, Wakako Ohyama, Takeshi Morita and Makoto Hayashi

Purification and interactions of the MucA’ and MucB proteins constituting the DNA polymerase RI

The MucA’ and MucB proteins comprise the core of DNA polymerase RI which is a strong mutator utilized in mutagenicity assays such as the standard Ames test. A close relative DNA polymerase V, composed of the h...

Authors: Petr Grúz, Kei-ichi Sugiyama, Masamitsu Honma and Takehiko Nohmi

Correction to: Low-dose radiation from A-bombs elongated lifespan and reduced cancer mortality relative to un-irradiated individuals

In the original publication of this article [1], the author pointed out the reference list mismatched citations in the main text. All citations and reference has been updated.

Authors: Shizuyo Sutou

Chloroethylating anticancer drug-induced mutagenesis and its repair in Escherichia coli

Chloroethylnitrosourea (CENU) derivatives, such as nimustine (ACNU) and carmustine (BCNU), are employed in brain tumor chemotherapy due to their ability to cross the blood-brain barrier. They are thought to su...

Authors: Yoko Yamada, Shinji Watanabe, Keinosuke Okamoto, Sakae Arimoto, Eizo Takahashi, Kazuo Negishi and Tomoe Negishi

Association of ACE gene polymorphism with cardiovascular determinants of trained and untrained Iranian men

The insertion (I) rather than deletion (D) of human angiotensin converting enzyme gene (ACE) is associated with lower circulating ACE activity and with endurance performance among Caucasians. The frequency of ...

Authors: Akram Falahati and Hamid Arazi

Development of novel and safer anti-breast cancer agents, SS1020 and SS5020, based on a fundamental carcinogenic research

Tamoxifen (TAM) has been prescribed worldwide to patients with and women at high-risk of breast cancer. However, long-term use of TAM increases the incidence of endometrial cancer. The carcinogenic mechanisms ...

Authors: Yoshinori Okamoto and Shinya Shibutani