Projects / Programmes
Mechanisms of genotoxic activity of chemicals and cellular response to DNA damage
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 1.03.00 |
Natural sciences and mathematics |
Biology |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| B220 |
Biomedical sciences |
Genetics, cytogenetics |
genotoxicity, antigenotoxicity, reactive oxygen species, metabolism, HepG2 cells, heavy metals, heterocyclic amines, comet assay, micronuclei, test methods, chemoprevention
Researchers (9)
| no. |
Code |
Name and surname |
Research area |
Role |
Period |
No. of publicationsNo. of publications |
| 1. |
19157 |
PhD Tanja Fatur |
Public health (occupational safety) |
Researcher |
2004 |
313 |
| 2. |
09892 |
PhD Metka Filipič |
Biology |
Head |
2004 - 2007 |
585 |
| 3. |
25524 |
PhD Irena Hreljac |
Biochemistry and molecular biology |
Junior researcher |
2006 - 2007 |
48 |
| 4. |
07744 |
PhD Gorazd Kosi |
Biology |
Researcher |
2005 - 2007 |
359 |
| 5. |
07802 |
PhD Tamara Lah Turnšek |
Biology |
Researcher |
2004 - 2007 |
1,020 |
| 6. |
23609 |
PhD Janja Plazar |
Educational studies |
Junior researcher |
2004 - 2007 |
220 |
| 7. |
07736 |
PhD Bojan Sedmak |
Biochemistry and molecular biology |
Researcher |
2004 - 2007 |
232 |
| 8. |
16193 |
Nataša Sever |
Pharmacy |
Researcher |
2004 - 2007 |
30 |
| 9. |
20767 |
PhD Bojana Žegura |
Biology |
Researcher |
2004 - 2007 |
340 |
Organisations (1)
| no. |
Code |
Research organisation |
City |
Registration number |
No. of publicationsNo. of publications |
| 1. |
0105 |
National Institute of Biology |
Ljubljana |
5055784 |
13,256 |
Abstract
According to epidemiological studies diet plays major role in the ethiology of human cancer. It is convincible that consumption of contaminated foods which contain pesticides, mycotoxins, PCBs or heavy metals may enhance the carcinogenic risks of other food derived DNA reactive carcinogens. On the other hand there is also abundant evidence that the genotoxic and carcinogenic effects of food specific toxins are reduced by various plant constituents. However the overall experimental evidence for such synergistic and antagonistic effects is scarce due to the lack of appropriate testing methods. The main problem using in vitro test procedures to study complex mechanisms of putative synergistic and antagonistic effects of genotoxic chemicals is that conventional indicator cells require the addition of exogenous liver enzyme homogenates to activate procarcinogens. In the proposed project the mechanisms of genotoxic activity of chemicals will be studied with human Hep G2 cells which posses phase I and phase II enzymes such as CYP1A1, CYP1A2, CYP2E1 and glutathione-S-transferase in an inducible form and have better predictive value for the identification of genotoxic chemicals and their biological interactions. We will explore the mechanisms of induction of DNA damage and repair and the blological consequences. The role of specific enzymes in mutagenesis will be determined; induction/inactivation of metabolic and antioxidative enzymes as well as the role of reactive oxygen species in genotoxic effects.
The main outcome s of the proposed studies will be: increase our knowledge for the mutagenic, co- and anti-mutagenic potential of certain important environmental contaminants and human food constituents, whivh will be used fro risk assessment and can ultimately be applied to improve human health.
On the basis of the outcomes of these studies, attempts will be made to establish an in vitro assay model with the use of human derived hepatoma cell lines for studying complex chemical interactions, as an alternative to use of vertebrate animals.
