ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the evidence, using molecular epidemiology, for the role of chemical and physical factors as causal agents for hematopoietic tumors in rodents and humans. Mutations in genes closely associated with cancer in humans such as the ras or p53 genes may serve as useful biomarkers to identify etiological agents associated with the selective induction of cancers of the hematopoietic system. The development and application of molecular genetic techniques in the past decade makes it possible to study cancer-susceptibility genes for any given cancer. The fact that hematopoietic tumors of human and mouse share many of the same genetic alterations indicates that animal models, particularly some of the new transgenic animal models, may become useful as carcinogen screening systems. The p53 tumor-suppressor gene is the most frequently mutated gene in human cancer, differing in frequency depending on the tissue type involved in the malignancy.
