Adipose Tissue Concentrations of Persistent Organic Pollutants and the Risk of Prostate Cancer

Abstract

Objective: 

We sought to study the concentrations of certain persistent organic pollutants with endocrine-disrupting properties in cases with prostate cancer and controls with benign prostate hyperplasia.

Methods: 

Adipose tissue was obtained from 58 cases and 20 controls.

Results: 

The median concentration among controls was used as cut-off in the statistical analysis. In the total material, a greater-than median concentration of PCB congener 153 yielded an odds ratio (OR) of 3.15 and 95% confidence interval (CI) of 1.04–9.54 and one chlordane type, trans-chlordane, yielded OR 3.49 (95% CI = 1.08–11.2). In the group of case subjects with PSA levels greater than the median level of 16.5 ng/mL, PCB 153 was OR 30.3 (95% CI = 3.24–284), hexachlorobenzene OR = 9.84 (95% CI = 1.99–48.5), trans-chlordane OR = 11.0 (95% CI = 1.87–64.9), and the chlordane-type MC6 OR = 7.58 (95% CI = 1.65–34.9). The grouping of PCBs according to structural and biological activity was found to produce significantly increased risks for enzyme and phenobarbital-inducing PCBs and lower chlorinated PCBs in the case group with PSA levels greater than 16.5 ng/mL.

Conclusions: 

These chemicals might be of etiologic significance but need to be further investigated. The biological relevance of the arbitrary cut-off point of PSA is unclear.