Investigation into the ability of the Salmonella umu test to detect DNA damage using antitumor drugs

In order to examine the ability of the umu test detecting system, 18 antitumor drugs were tested using the Salmonella umu test. The tested antitumor drugs were selected so as to produce different biochemical actions, and they were classified into three categories; five agents of group I (antimetabolites), eight agents of group II (alkylating agents), and five agents of group III (antibiotics). The results showed that all antimetabolites, all alkylating agents, and three of the antibiotics had positive responses, but the antibiotics aclarubicin (ACR) and chromomycin A3 (CHR) had negative responses. Both antibiotics that gave negative responses were anthracyclines, but daunomycin (DNR), which was one of the anthracyclines, had a positive result in the umu test. These results suggest that it is possible for the umu test to detect genotoxicity of chemicals regardless of the types of DNA damage (inhibition of DNA synthesis relative enzyme, DNA base alkylating, DNA strand-break, and DNA adduct), but difficult for it to detect genotoxicity of any anthracyclines.