Editing Mutagen (section)

==Difference between mutagens and carcinogens==
Mutagens are not necessarily carcinogens, and vice versa. [[Sodium azide]] for example may be mutagenic (and highly toxic), but it has not been shown to be carcinogenic.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/htdocs/lt_rpts/tr389.pdf|title=Toxicology And Carcinogenesis Studies Of Sodium Azide in F344/N Rats|date=1991|website=nih.gov|publisher=[[National Institutes of Health|NIH]]|type=technical report|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111023165026/http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/htdocs/LT_rpts/tr389.pdf|archive-date=23 October 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> Meanwhile, compounds which are not directly mutagenic but stimulate cell growth which can reduce the effectiveness of DNA repair and indirectly increase the chance of mutations, and therefore that of cancer.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hill |first1=John |url=https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_Chemistry/Chemistry_for_Changing_Times_(Hill_and_McCreary) |title=Chemistry for Changing Times |last2=McCreary |first2=John |publisher=[[Pearson PLC|Pearson]] |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-13-498863-4 |edition=15 |language=en |chapter=22.6 Carcinogens and Teratogens |doi=10.1021/ed050pa44.2 |chapter-url=https://chem.libretexts.org/@go/page/152300}}</ref> One example of this would be [[anabolic steroid]]s, which stimulate growth of the prostate gland and increase the risk of [[prostate cancer]] among others.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Salerno |first1=Monica |last2=Cascio |first2=Orazio |last3=Bertozzi |first3=Giuseppe |last4=Sessa |first4=Francesco |last5=Messina |first5=Antonietta |last6=Monda |first6=Vincenzo |last7=Cipolloni |first7=Luigi |last8=Biondi |first8=Antonio |last9=Daniele |first9=Aurora |last10=Pomara |first10=Cristoforo |date=2018-04-10 |title=Anabolic androgenic steroids and carcinogenicity focusing on Leydig cell: a literature review |journal=Oncotarget |volume=9 |issue=27 |pages=19415–19426 |doi=10.18632/oncotarget.24767 |issn=1949-2553 |pmc=5922407 |pmid=29721213}}</ref> Other carcinogens may cause cancer through a variety of mechanisms without producing mutations, such as [[tumour promotion]], [[immunosuppression]] that reduces the ability to fight cancer cells or pathogens that can cause cancer, disruption of the [[endocrine system]] (e.g. in breast cancer), tissue-specific toxicity, and [[inflammation]] (e.g. in colorectal cancer).<ref>{{cite journal |title=Mechanisms of non-genotoxic carcinogens and importance of a weight of evidence approach|author=Lya G. Hernández |author2=Harry van Steeg |author3=Mirjam Luijten |author4=Jan van Benthem |journal=Mutation Research/Reviews in Mutation Research |volume =682| issue =2–3|date= 2009| pages= 94–109 |doi=10.1016/j.mrrev.2009.07.002 |pmid=19631282|bibcode=2009MRRMR.682...94H }}</ref>