Serum Concentrations of Organochlorines in Breast Cancer Women: A Pilot Hospital Based-case Control Study in Vietnam

Abstract

Cancer, in general, and breast cancer in particular, is one of the noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) that is increasing rapidly in the world, especially in developing countries like Vietnam. Along with other etiological factors (e.g., genetics, family history, age, etc.), there is growing scientific evidence that exposure to environmental carcinogens, especially endocrine disrupting chemicals-EDCs (e.g., organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and some other organic compounds), is potentially associated with increased incidence of several NCDs including breast cancer in animal and human studies. People are frequently exposed to various carcinogens, such as pesticides, in their lifetime. Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are frequently used worldwide as insecticides, fungicides, herbicides and termiticides, and people may be exposed to these substances at different levels due to direct and/or indirect ways. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to study the accumulation level of serum organochlorines in breast cancer in a case-control study in Vietnam. A random collection of blood samples was carried out from the cases (breast cancer patients, n=146) and controls (healthy women, n=146) with informed consent in a hospital-based case and control study. Serum was separated within 2h of blood collection and then subjected to further purification before analysis by Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method. The determination of 18 organochlorines (Aldrin, α-BHC, β-BHC, δ-BHC, γ-BHC, Heptaclor, Heptaclor epoxide, Diendrin, Endosulfan I, Endosulfan II, Endosulfan sulfat, Endrin, Endrin aldehyde, Endrin ketone, p,p^’ DDD, p,p^’ DDT, p,p^’DDE, Methoxyclor) showed that only p,p′-DDE (as a main metabolite of p,p′-DDT) was detected in the blood samples of the cases (26.0%) and controls (10.3%). In addition, p,p′-DDT was the only pesticide detected in the disease group with low concentration (3.4%). The average concentration of p,p'-DDE in the case (3.51 ± 0.99 ppb) was higher than that in the control (1.89 ± 0.43 ppb) with a significant statistical difference (p < 0.05).