Hydrocarbon carcinogens induce p53 activity in normal mouse tissue

Previous studies led to the suggestion that a sub class of hydrocarbon carcinogens have the capacity of damage DNA and evade normal cellular defence mechanisms. To examine the ability of hydrocarbon carcinogens to induce p53 transcriptional activity in normal tissues, we have used transgenic mice in which LacZ transgene is driven by a p53 response element. We demonstrate that transcriptionally active p53 is induced in normal tissue after exposure to putative stealth carcinogens in an identical manner to non-stealth agents.