Mutagenic and epigenetic influence of caffeine on the frequencies of UV-induced ouabain-resistant Chinese hamster cells

Caffeine, given as a post-treatment to UV-irradiated Chinese hamster cells in vitro, modified the frequency of induced mutations at the ouabain resistance locus. Mutation frequencies were increased when caffeine was added only for the DNA repair and mutation fixation period. When caffeine was added after the DNA repair and mutation fixation period, or immediately after DNA damage and for the entire repair and selection period, mutation frequencies were reduced. A hypothesis, given to explain both results, is that caffeine, by blocking a constitutive “error-free” postreplication repair process, allows an “error-prone” DNA repair process to produce many mutations. Moreover, caffeine, possibly by modifying C-AMP metabolism, causes a repression of induced mutations which, in effect, explains its anti-mutagenic and anti-carcinogenic properties.