Quantitative predictivity of the transformation in vitro assay compared with the Ames test.

For 59 chemical compounds, we have found homogeneous data on transformation in vitro, mutagenicity in the Ames test, and carcinogenicity. We have compared the potency in inducing transformation in vitro in hamster fibroblast cells with the carcinogenic potency and found a modest correlation coefficient between the two parameters (r = 0.37). For these same 59 compounds it was also possible to compare mutagenic potency in the Ames test with carcinogenic potency. The correlation level was very similar (r = 0.34). The predictivity of transformation in vitro increased significantly when only compounds for which some kind of dose-response relationship was available were utilized (r = 0.65). This result stresses the importance of the quantitative aspect of the response in predictivity studies. The present study is compared with previous studies on the quantitative predictivity of different short-term tests. Our work is not definitive, but gives an idea of the possible type of approach to the problem of comparing quantitative predictivities.