Cellular-signaling pathways unveil the carcinogenic potential of chemicals.

Most of the current in vitro carcinogenicity assays assess the potential carcinogenic properties of chemicals through the detection of inflicted DNA damage or subsequent chromosome damage and gene mutations. Unfortunately, these assays generally do not provide mechanistic insight into the reactive properties of a chemical. Upon chemical-induced damage of biomolecules, molecular sensors will activate general and damage-specific cellular response pathways that provide protection against the (geno)toxic and potential carcinogenic properties of chemicals. These cellular defense mechanisms include activation of cell-cycle checkpoints, DNA repair systems and induction of apoptosis or necrosis. Visualization of activated cellular-signaling pathways forms a powerful means to readily detect the genotoxic potential of chemical compounds and simultaneously gain insight into their reactive properties. Over the past years, various in vitro reporter assays have been developed that monitor activation of general and more specific cellular-signaling pathways, including the GreenScreen HC and ToxTracker assays. In this review we provide a perspective on how we can exploit activation of cellular signaling pathways to shed light on the mode of action of the chemical exposure and to develop sophisticated mechanism-based in vitro assays for cancer risk assessment.