Measurements of Dioxin, PCB and Organochlorine Levels in Breast Adipose Tissue from Women With and Without Breast Cancer

摘要

This case-control study explores associations between breast cancer in San Francisco Bay Area women and body burdens of organochlorine chemicals, including dioxins, furans, PCBs and pesticides. The selected chemicals are lipophilic, they bioaccumulate, and have carcinogenic, estrogenic or anti- estrogenic properties. Cases (n=5O) are women with malignant disease and controls (n=47) are women with benign histologic changes. Small samples of breast adipose were obtained during surgery and participants were interviewed on suspected risk factors. Preliminary results showed low to moderate levels for most chemicals, comparable to levels found in general population studies. A wide range of lipid content was observed, mandating expression of results on a lipid basis. Preliminary analysis suggests that age-adjusted ORS do not differ statistically from 1 for the dioxin and furan congeners examined. Cases and controls were similar in all covariates examined, reducing the likelihood of confounding by other potential risk factors. More analyses are underway to examine ORs for PCBs and pesticides; correlations among all chemicals; variables predicting elevated body burdens; and to further refine these preliminary results. A small but statistically significant decrease in average dioxin body burdens was observed when the study controls were compared with adipose samples collected from the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 198Os.