Inter-individual variations in carcinogen metabolism.

Explant cultures of human tissues metabolized chemical carcinogens into the ultimate carcinogenic form as measured by binding to cellular DNA. A wide inter-individual variation in the binding level of many chemical carcinogens to target cell DNA was observed, whereas lesser inter-individual variation was observed in primary epithelial cell cultures derived from the explants. The binding levels in the explants showed a unimodal distribution without any sub-populations being present. The binding level of benzo(a)pyrene to human bronchial DNA has been analyzed with respect to genetic and environmental factors such as family history of cancer and smoking history.