From foodconsumer.org
Plastic compound may affect breast cancer aggressiveness
By Ben Wasserman
Apr 25, 2008 - 9:06:58 AM
FRIDAY April 25, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- Bisphenol A may affect aggressiveness of breast cancer, according to a new study published in the April 1, 2008 issue of Cancer Research.
In the study, Dairkee SH and colleagues from California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute in San Francisco used nonmalignant random periareolar fine-needle aspirates in a novel functional assay to determine how bisphenol A affects the issue at a molecular level.
They found the presence of the ubiquitous xenoestrogen bisphenol A or BPA in high risk breast tissue modifies gene expression patterns which facilitate apoptosis evasion, endurance of microenvironmental stress and cell cycle deregulation without a detectable increase in cell numbers.
The effect was significantly linked to breast tumors characterized by high histologic grade and large tumor size, leading to decreased recurrence-free patient survival.
The study showed biological evidence of probable prior exposure to endocrine-disrupting agents and suggested that the agents in the encroenvironmetal milieu of high-risk breast tissue may play a critical role in tumor aggressiveness and poor patient outcome.