A common pathway for chemical-induced tissue injury and immune responses leading to hypersensitivity and/or carcinogenesis.

A common requirement for chemical-induced allergy, carcinogenesis and certain forms of liver injury appears to be the ability of the chemical to react with protein and/or nucleic acid to form covalent conjugates. Tests to detect immune responses to such conjugates can provide useful information concerning the propensity of an individual to convert normally innocuous chemicals to immuno-reactive forms under physiological conditions and may provide an indicator of the risk for developing one of the above disorders. They will enable offending substances and their active metabolites to be identified, the status of diseases which they induce determined, and the degree to which exposure has been avoided monitored. Very few studies have been published relating to this important problem. Implications of this approach are discussed.