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The Carcinogenic Potency Project

Summary Table by Chemical of the Carcinogenic Potency Database


A one-line summary of results on each chemical in the CPDB, whether positive or negative for carcinogenicity, is provided in the Summary Table by Chemical. A brief overview of experimental results can readily be obtained for a given chemical: the sex-species groups that have been tested, the strongest level of evidence for carcinogenicity based on the opinion of a published author, carcinogenic potency value (TD50), and target organs in each species. Chemical names are listed alphabetically for the 1547 chemicals in the CPDB; Chemical Abstracts Service Registry (CAS) number and mutagenicity in Salmonella are also reported. Results are summarized for rats, mice, hamsters, dogs and nonhuman primates. The table is searchable by chemical name and CAS number.

Comparative analyses are quickly available in the Table, e.g. whether a chemical that is positive in the rat has been tested in the mouse, and whether it is also positive in the mouse, and whether the target organs are the same in the two species. By cross-referencing a chemical of interest to the plots of the CPDB, details of all experiments can be obtained. Additionally, all CPDB results on each particular chemical are reported in a separate web page, including a plot of all experimental results. Click here for a list of web pages for each of the 1547 chemicals in the CPDB.

The Summary Table by Chemical presents the strongest evidence of carcinogenicity for each chemical in each sex-species group; if there are both positive and negative experiments in a sex-species, the negative results are ignored in this table. Additionally, if there is more than one positive experiment in a sex-species group, then the target sites listed may be from more than one experiment, e.g. if liver and lung are both listed, then liver may have been a target in one experiment in the sex-species and lung in another experiment. Our methods for summarizing TD50 values for a chemical that induces tumors in more than one experiment in a species, are described in the page Harmonic Mean of TD50. For 45% of carcinogens in rats and 34% in mice, there is only one positive experiment and the most potent TD50 from that experiment is reported in the summary table.

Additional results of our analyses on each chemical are given in the Table as several superscripts. For example, an “m” superscript indicates that there is more than one positive experiment on the test agent in the species, a “v” superscript indicates that there is greater than a 10-fold variation in TD50 values from different positive experiments, and a “n” indicates that while at least one published author evaluated the chemical as carcinogenic, no results in the species are statistically significant.

A legend at the top of the Table describes each field and defines the codes for target sites. To see the legend for printing, click here.

Additional results of our analyses on each chemical are given in the Table as several superscripts. For example, an “m” superscript indicates that there is more than one positive experiment on the test agent in the species, a “v” superscript indicates that there is greater than a 10-fold variation in TD50 values from different positive experiments, and an “n” indicates that while at least one published author evaluated the chemical as carcinogenic, no results in the species are statistically significant.

Methods used in the CPDB describes sources of data, inclusion criteria, choice of tissue and tumor to report, and estimation of TD50.

The Table is available in the following formats:

To locate CPDB results for a chemical name that is not listed in the Summary Table, see the list of Synonyms for the Carcinogenic Potency Database.

For chemical structure, molecular weight, SMILES and InChI codes for each chemical, click here.

For a compendium of CPDB results organized by target organ, which lists all chemicals in each species that induced tumors at each site, see the Summary Table of the Carcinogenic Potency Database by Target Organ.

Estimates of the lower confidence limit on the TD10 (LTD10) are readily calculated from the TD50 and its lower confidence limit that are reported in the CPDB. We have estimated LTD10 values for chemicals evaluated as positive by at least one author and provide them in an Excel spreadsheet.

Results given in the CPDB Summary Table by Chemical are also reported in the EPA Distributed Structure-Searchable Toxicity (DSSTox) Public Database Network.


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Last updated: March 3, 2010


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