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Mechanism of Potentiation by Caffeine of Genotoxic Damage Induced by Physical and Chemical Agents: Possible Relevance to Carcinogenesis

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Caffeine

Abstract

In a number of eukaryotic higher organisms, post-treatment with methylated xanthines, and caffeine in particular, has been found to potentiate the lethal and chromosome-damaging effects of a number of physical and chemical agents. Despite many years of intensive study, there is still discussion as to which of the various effects of caffeine that can be observed in treated or untreated cells are most directly responsible for the enhancement of what are thought to be manifestations of genotoxic damage resulting from modifications to cellular DNA or chromatin. Difficulties in the interpretation of many of these observations arise partly because of the lack of a uniform response by mammalian cells, not only to the initial damaging agents themselves, but also to their subsequent post-treatment incubation in the presence of caffeine. Many of the effects of caffeine on damaged cells have been described in detail previously, and the reader is referred to reviews by Kihlman (1977) and Roberts (1978) for references. It has generally been concluded that one of the major effects of caffeine in treated cells is its ability to change the normal mode of DNA replication in damaged cells. This chapter will therefore examine these particular effects of caffeine in UV- and X-irradiated and chemically modified cells and attempt to assess their significance with regard to potentiation of genotoxic damage. The relationship between such caffeine-induced perturbations of DNA synthesis and the ability of caffeine to modify the mutagenic and carcinogenic effects of genotoxic agents will then be discussed.

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Authors
  1. J. J. Roberts
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  1. 181 Upland Road, Newtonville, MA, 02160, USA

    P. B. Dews

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© 1984 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Roberts, J.J. (1984). Mechanism of Potentiation by Caffeine of Genotoxic Damage Induced by Physical and Chemical Agents: Possible Relevance to Carcinogenesis. In: Dews, P.B. (eds) Caffeine. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-69823-1_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-69823-1_16

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-69825-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-69823-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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