Extensive studies have so far been principally made using hydrophobic carcinogens in the field of chemicalcarcinogenesis. However, the species of glutathione S-transferases (GSTP1-1) linked to neoplasia of rat and humanwere recently shown to be selective for hydrophilic carcinogens such as acrolein and hydroxyalkenals (Satoh, 1998;Satoh et al., 1999) in accord with the finding of a water-network in the active site of the human GSTP1-1 by X-rayanalysis (Hu et al.; Ji et al., 1997). These results indicate that water-soluble carcinogens may be more significant thantheir hydrophobic counterparts in vivo. Of note, half-times for excretion of hydrophilic compounds are as short asseveral hrs, while those for hydrophobic ones are as long as several months or years. These available enzymologicaldata suggest on importance of consuming water to prevent cancer.
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