Mutagenic Activity of Nitrosourea Antitumor Agents

The relative mutagenic activities of chloroethyl-nitrosourea and methylnitrosourea antitumor agents in active clinical use were determined with the use of the Ames Salmonella typhimurium assay. The results indicated that the drugs induced base substitutions. 2-Deoxy-2-[[(methylnitrosoamino)carbonyl]amino]-D-glucopyranose (also called streptozotocin), a glucose-containing methylnitrosourea, was the most mutagenic of all compounds tested and showed at least a 250-fold increase in activity when compared to that of its chloroethyl analog, 2-[[[(2-chloroethyl) nitrosoamino]carbonyl]-amino]-2-deoxy-D-glucose (also called chlorozotocin). All nitrosoureas, with the exception of N'-[(4-amino-2-methyl-5-pyrimidinyl)methyl]-N-(2-chloroethyl)-N-nitrosourea monohydrochloride, a pyrimidine chloroethyl analog, demonstrated an increase in mutagenicity after incubation with induced Sprague-Dawley rat liver microsomes. No correlation between in vitro chemical alkylating activity and mutagenic potential was observed. Mutagenic activity was not observed to be of predictive value for antitumor activity in the L1210 leukemia model system.