Caffeine-induced enhancement of chromosome damage in human lymphocytes treated with methyl-methanesulphonate, mitomycin C and X-rays

Two hypothese have been put forward in the literature to explain the synergistic effect of caffeine with several mutagens: (1) binding of caffeine to DNA, and (2) inhibition of DNA repair.Autoradiographic studies with ³H- and ¹⁴C-labelled caffeine did not support the binding hypothesis. Caffeine enchanced in a synergistic way the amount of chromatid breaks and exchanged induced in human lymphocytes with methyl-methanesulphonate (MMS), mitomycin C (MC) and X-rays. The results are best explained if caffiene inhibits a post-replication repair process, particularly the filling-in of gaps in the newly synthesized DNA.