Cancer Letters

Cancer Letters

Volume 93, Issue 1, 29 June 1995, Pages 17-48
Cancer Letters

Role of N-nitroso compounds (NOC) and N-nitrosation in etiology of gastric, esophageal, nasopharyngeal and bladder cancer and contribution to cancer of known exposures to NOC

https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-3835(95)03786-VGet rights and content

Abstract

The questions of whether and how N-nitroso compounds (NOC) may be inducing cancer in humans are discussed. The principal subjects covered include nitrite-derived alkylating agents that are not NOC, reasons for the wide tissue specificity of carcinogenesis by NOC, the acute toxicity of nitrosamines in humans, mechanisms of in vivo formation of NOC by chemical and bacterial nitrosation in the stomach and via nitric oxide (NO) formation during inflammation, studies on nitrite esters, use of the nitrosoproline test to follow human gastric nitrosation, correlations of nitrate in food and water with in vivo nitrosation and the inhibition of gastric nitrosation by vitamin C and polyphenols. Evidence that specific cancers are caused by NOC is reviewed for cancer of the stomach, esophagus, nasopharynx, urinary bladder in bilharzia and colon. I review the occurrence of nitrosamines in tobacco products, nitrite-cured meat (which might be linked with childhood leukemia and brain cancer) and other foods, and in drugs and industrial situations. Finally, I discuss clues from mutations in ras and p53 genes in human tumors about whether NOC are etiologic agents and draw some general conclusions.

References (237)

  • LijinskyW.

    Induction of tumours in rats by feeding nitrosatable amines together with sodium nitrite

    Food Chem. Toxicol.

    (1984)
  • LijinskyW. et al.

    Carcinogenic effects in rats of nitrosopiperazines administered intravesically: possible implications for the use of piperazine

    Cancer Lett.

    (1993)
  • AiroldiL. et al.

    Alpha-oxidative metabolism of the bladder carcinogens N-nitrosobutyl (4-hydroxybutyl) amine and N-nitrosobutyl(3-carboxypropyl) amine within the rat isolated bladder

    Carcinogenesis

    (1990)
  • American Cancer Society

    Cancer Facts and Figures — 1994

    (1994)
  • AmesB.N. et al.

    Oxidants, antioxidants, and the degenerative diseases of aging

  • AzeY. et al.

    Enhancing effect of ethanol on esophageal tumor development in rats by initiation of diethylnitrosamine

    Carcinogenesis

    (1993)
  • BadawiA.F. et al.

    Promutagenic methylation damage in liver DNA of mice infected with Schistosoma mansoni

    Carcinogenesis

    (1993)
  • BarnesJ.M. et al.

    Some toxic properties or dimethylnitrosamine

    Br. J. Ind. Med.

    (1954)
  • BartschH. et al.

    Relevance of nitrosamines to human cancer

    Carcinogenesis

    (1984)
  • BartschH. et al.

    Human exposure to endogenous N-nitroso compounds: quantitative estimates in subjects at high risk for cancer of the oral cavity, oesophagus, stomach and urinary bladder

    Cancer Surv.

    (1989)
  • BellanderT. et al.

    Excretion of N-mononitrosopiperazine in urine in workers manufacturing piperazine

    Int. Arch. Occup. Environ. Health

    (1988)
  • BianchiniF. et al.

    Comparison of 7-MedG formation in white blood cells, liver and target organs in rats treated with methylating carcinogens

    Carcinogenesis

    (1994)
  • BlotW.J. et al.

    Nutrition intervention trials in Linxian, China: supplementation with specific vitamin/mineral combinations, cancer incidence, and disease-specific mortality in the general population

    J. Natl. Cancer Inst.

    (1993)
  • BoeingH.

    Epidemiological research in stomach cancer: progress over the last ten years

    J. Cancer Res. Clin. Oncol.

    (1991)
  • BulayO. et al.

    Carcinogenesis in rat esophagus by intraperitoneal injection of different doses of methyl-n-amylnitrosamine

    Cancer Res.

    (1979)
  • BulayO. et al.

    Carcinogenicity test of six nitrosamides and a nitrosocyanamide administered orally to rats

    J. Natl. Cancer Inst.

    (1979)
  • BuninG.R. et al.

    Maternal diet and risk of astrocytic glioma in children: a report from the Childrens Cancer Group (United States and Canada)

    Cancer Causes Control

    (1994)
  • CalmelsS. et al.

    Bacterial formation of N-nitroso compounds from administered precursors in the rat stomach after omeprazole induced achlorhydria

    Carcinogenesis

    (1991)
  • CernyW.L. et al.

    K-ras mutation is an early event in pancreatic duct carcinogenesis in the Syrian golden hamster

    Cancer Res.

    (1992)
  • ChallisB.C.

    Chemistry and biology of nitrosated peptides

    Cancer Surv.

    (1989)
  • ChenS.C. et al.

    Depentylation of methyl-n-[4,5-3H]amylnitrosamine by rat liver microsomes and by human cytochrome P-450 2E1

  • ChenW. et al.

    2-Chloro-4-methylthiobutanoic acid, a newly identified mutagen in salt, nitrite-treated fish

    Nature

    (1995)
  • ChuF.S. et al.

    Simultaneous occurrence of fumonisin B1 and other mycotoxins in moldy corn collected from the People's Republic of China in regions with high incidences of esophageal cancer

    Appl. Environ. Microbiol.

    (1994)
  • ClaysonD.B.

    Chemical Carcinogenesis

    (1962)
  • ConboyJ.J. et al.

    Photolytic interface for high-performance liquid chromatography — chemiluminescence detection of non-volatile N-nitroso compounds

    Analyst

    (1989)
  • Cook-MozaffariP.

    The epidemiology of cancer of the oesophagus

    Nutr. Cancer

    (1979)
  • CraddockV.M.

    Aetiology of oesophageal cancer: Some operative factors

    Eur. J. Cancer Prev.

    (1992)
  • CraddockV.M.

    Cancer of the Esophagus: Approaches to the Etiology

  • DavidekJ. et al.

    Nitrosation products from creatine and creatinine in meat

    Fleischwirtschaft

    (1976)
  • DayN.E. et al.

    Oesophageal cancer

    Cancer Surv.

    (1994)
  • DeStefaniE. et al.

    Salted meat consumption as a risk factor for cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx: a case-control study from Uruguay

    Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev.

    (1994)
  • DruckreyH. et al.

    Organotrope Carcinogene Wirkungen bei 65 Verschiedenen N-Nitroso-Verbindungen an BD-Rattan

    Z. Krebsforsch.

    (1967)
  • EisenbrandG. et al.

    Carcinogenic N-nitrosodimethylamine as a contaminant in drugs containing 4-dimethylamino-2,3-dimethyl-l-phenyl-3-pyrazolin-5-one (amidopyrine, aminophenazone)

    Arzneim. Forsch.

    (1979)
  • O6-Methylguanine in blood leucocyte DNA: an association with the geographic prevalence of gastric cancer and with low levels of serum pepsinogen A, a marker of severe chronic atrophic gastritis

    Carcinogenesis

    (1994)
  • FanT.Y. et al.

    N-Nitrosodiethanolamine in synthetic cutting fluids: a part-per-hundred impurity

    Science

    (1977)
  • FleigW.E. et al.

    Pathological changes in a human subject chronically exposed to dimethylnitrosamine

  • FormanD.

    Are nitrates a significant risk factor in human cancer?

    Cancer Surv.

    (1989)
  • FragaC.G. et al.

    Ascorbic acid protects against endogenous oxidative DNA damage in human sperm

  • FranceschiS. et al.

    Maize and risk of cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx, and esophagus in northeastern Italy

    J. Natl. Cancer Inst.

    (1990)
  • Cited by (0)

    View full text