Nanoparticles (NPs) are present in many daily life products with particular physical-chemical properties (size, density, porosity, geometry …) giving very interesting technological properties. Their use is continuously growing and NPs represent a new challenge in terms of risk assessment, consumers being multi-exposed. Toxic effects have already been identified such as oxidative stress, genotoxicity, inflammatory effects, and immune reactions, some of which are leading to carcinogenesis. Cancer is a complex phenomenon implying multiple modes of action and key events, and prevention strategies in cancer include a proper assessment of the properties of NPs. Therefore, introduction of new agents like NPs into the market creates fresh regulatory challenges for an adequate safety evaluation and requires new tools. The Cell Transformation Assay (CTA) is an in vitro test able of highlighting key events of characteristic phases in the cancer process, initiation and promotion. This review presents the development of this test and its use with NPs. The article underlines also the critical issues to address for assessing NPs carcinogenic properties and approaches for improving its relevance.

纳米颗粒 (NP) 存在于许多具有特殊物理化学特性（尺寸、密度、孔隙率、几何形状……）的日常生活产品中，具有非常有趣的技术特性。它们的使用在不断增长，NP 代表了风险评估方面的新挑战，消费者面临多重风险。已经确定了毒性作用，例如氧化应激、遗传毒性、炎症作用和免疫反应，其中一些会导致致癌作用。癌症是一种复杂的现象，意味着多种作用模式和关键事件，癌症的预防策略包括对 NP 特性的适当评估。因此，将像 NPs 这样的新药剂引入市场会给充分的安全评估带来新的监管挑战，并且需要新的工具。体外测试能够突出癌症过程中特征阶段的关键事件，启动和促进。本综述介绍了该测试的开发及其与 NPs 的结合使用。该文章还强调了评估 NPs 致癌特性和提高其相关性的方法需要解决的关键问题。