Plastic chemical may promote breast cancer development

[GLT]

Pink news: Plastic chemical may promote breast cancer development
07/10/2010 10:42:00 admin
http://www.foodconsumer.org/newsite/Nutrition/Food/green_tea_helps_prevent_breast_cancer_3110100312.html

Editor's note: In the pink month or the National Breast Cancer
Awareness Month, we publish the following for those who might be
interested. Some news outlets have suggested simply thinking pink or
wearing pink isn't enough to fight breast cancer. We hope this report
may give readers a hint that a little something may be done to lower
the risk of the malignancy that strikes one in eight women in their
lifetime.

Plastic chemical may boost breast cancer risk

A new study published in Environmental Health Perspectives suggests
that a toxic chemical known as bisphenol A or BPA, which is commonly
found in plastics, may promote development of breast cancer.

The study led by Lapensee E.W. at the University of Cincinnati in
Cincinnati, Ohio and colleagues found low nanomolar concentrations of
bisphenol A in two breast cancer cultures reduced the efficacy of
chemotherapeutic agents.

It has been long suspected that BPA promotes carcinogenesis even
though studies on high doses of bisphenol A were not consistent,
according to the background information in the study report.

The current study was meant to examine the estrogenic effect of
bisphenol A, which mimics estrogen in chemistry, on in-vitro breast
cancer cells as female reproductive hormone estrogen has been found to
promote growth of breast cancer cells.

For the study, the researchers tested the efficacy of anticancer drugs
doxorubicin, cisplatin and vinblastine in the estrogen receptor-alpha-
positive T47D and the estrogen receptor-alpha-negative MDA-MB-468
breast cancer cells in the presence of nanomolar concentrations of
BPA.

Lapensee et al found BPA antagonizes the cytotoxicity of multiple
chemotherapeutic agents in both breast cancer cells independent of the
classical estrogen receptors.

Additionally, the researchers identified both types of breast cancer
cells expressed alternative estrogen receptors such as G-protein-
coupled receptor 30 (GPR30) and members of the estrogen-related
receptor family and when exposed to BPA, cells over-expressed
antiapoptotic proteins, suggesting BPA has anticytotoxic effects and
sabotages the work of chemotherapy.

"BPA at environmentally relevant doses reduces the efficacy of
chemotherapeutic agents. These data provide considerable support to
the accumulating evidence that BPA is hazardous to human health," the
researchers concluded.

Bisphenol A, an endocrine disruptor, is commonly used in
polycarbonated plastics,food and beverage containers, epoxy resins for
food cans and dental composites among other things. It has been found
also to harm the brain, reproductive system and immune system.

One early study published in Reproductive Toxicology suggested
prenatal exposure to bisphenol may increase risk of breast cancer
after children enter their adulthood.

Ana M. Soto at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston and
colleagues found female rats whose mothers were exposed to bisphenol A
during pregnancy were more likely to develop breast cancer than those
without being exposed to the chemical in mothers' womb.

More reports will be published in the National Breast Cancer Awareness
Month to show readers that something can be done to reduce the risk of
the disease that is diagnosed in more than 175,000 women and kills
about 50,000 each year in the United States.