p53 inhibits cell cycle progression and DNA damaging cytostatics induce p53 protein expression, indicating that p53 responds to DNA damage. We have measured benzo[a]pyrene (BP)-induced DNA damage in association with p53 expression. The most relevant DNA adducts for carcinogenesis, benzo[a]pyrene-7,8-diol-9,10-epoxide-DNA adducts, were measured by synchronous fluorescence spectrophotometry and p53 immunohistochemistry using polyclonal antibody CM1, which detects both wild-type and mutated forms of p53. Activation of BP in A-549 lung carcinoma and MCF-7 breast adenocarcinoma cell lines containing wild-type p53 was followed by an increase in p53 protein expression. alpha-Naphthoflavone, an inhibitor of cytochrome P450 (CYP)1A1, decreased both the formation of diolepoxide metabolites and the p53 response. The cell lines not able to activate BP, A-427 and SK-LU-1 (both human lung carcinomas), SK-MES-1 (human lung squamous carcinoma) and human fibroblasts, did not show any increase in p53 immunohistochemistry. The OVCAR-3 ovarian adenocarcinoma cell line, containing a mutation in exon 7 of p53, and the SK-LU-1 cell line expressed very high levels of p53 protein before BP treatment and no increase in p53 immunohistochemistry was seen. These findings indicate that p53 protein is part of the response of the cells to BP-induced DNA damage.