Prostate
Cancer
Linking prostate
cancer to a widespread industrial compound, scientists have found that exposure
to a chemical that leaks from plastic causes genetic changes in animals'
developing prostate glands that are precursors of the most common form of
cancer in males.
The chemical,
bisphenol A, or BPA, is used in the manufacture of hard, polycarbonate plastic
for baby bottles, microwave cookware and other consumer goods, and it has been
detected in nearly every human body tested.
Scientists and health
experts have theorized for more than a decade that chemicals in the environment
and in consumer products mimic estrogens and may be contributing to male and
female reproductive diseases, particularly prostate cancer.
The new study of
laboratory rats suggests that prostate cancer, which usually strikes men over
50, may develop when BPA and other estrogen- like, man-made chemicals pass
through a pregnant woman's womb and alter the genes of a growing prostate in
the fetus.
One in every six men develops prostate
cancer, a rate that has increased over the last 30 years.
Researchers at the
University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Cincinnati exposed
newborn rats to low doses of BPA and found the structure of genes in their
prostate cells was permanently altered, a process of reprogramming in early
life that promotes cancer in adulthood.
One key gene was
switched on, producing too much of a cell-damaging enzyme that has been
detected in cancerous prostate cells but not normal cells.
Also, as the rats
aged, they were more likely than unexposed animals to develop precancerous
lesions, or cellular damage, in the prostate that have been known for years to
lead to prostate cancer in humans.
"The present
findings provide the first evidence of a direct link between developmental
low-dose bisphenol A... and carcinogenesis of the prostate gland," according to the researchers.
Results from the
team, led by Gail S. Prins, associate professor of andrology at the University
of Illinois at Chicago, and Shuk-mei Ho, chair of environmental health at the
University of Cincinnati, are reported today in the journal Cancer Research.
Exposure to the chemical "may provide a fetal basis for this adult disease" in
humans, the report said.
Dr. Rebecca Sokol, a USC medical school professor who
specializes in male hormone research, called the study "cutting-edge."
She said it added to
a growing body of research, called epigenetics, that suggested environmental
chemicals could alter how DNA sequences turned on and off in a fetus,
permanently imprinting the genes of a child and sensitizing him or her to
disease in adulthood.
Such findings could
have major implications for human disease and could, in part, explain why the
prostate cancer rate has surged.
BPA, used for about
half a century, is a key building block in the manufacture of polycarbonate
plastic and ranks among the world's most widely used industrial chemicals.
Prins, Ho and other
researchers cautioned that the study was conducted on rats, which sometimes
reacted differently to chemicals than humans
did.
"You can't say
from the results of this study that this is going to affect humans," Sokol said.
But she said the
results were in line with previous animal research that showed chemicals could
induce genetic changes that altered sperm and other reproductive functions.
The prostate gland,
which develops in human males when they are fetuses, is extremely sensitive to
natural estrogen.
As a result,
scientists have long theorized that prostate cancer could be increasing in men
because of their exposure to estrogen-like chemicals in the womb.
Unlike carcinogenic
chemicals that can cause profound damage to DNA, BPA seems to inflict subtle
changes that are passed from one generation to the next, Sokol said.
"The big focus
today is whether or not environmental toxicants will induce heritable changes
in gene function....
"This [new
study] is cutting-edge research in this field and the role that environmental
toxicants may play in altering the genetics of exposed offspring."
Steve Hentges, a representative of the American Plastics
Council, called it "fascinating
research, a good piece of research" that should be studied further.
But he said the "real
question is what does this mean for human health," because there are
too many limitations in the study for it to apply to humans.
"No one has
actually observed prostate cancer after any treatment with BPA," he said.
The study's authors
said the animals developed the precancerous lesions and genetic changes when
exposed to low concentrations of the chemical similar to the amounts found in
human blood and fetuses.
But Hentges said the
rats were injected with doses 100 to 1,000 times higher than the most recent
human testing done by federal officials in 2004.
In recent years,
evidence has been building that BPA causes changes in the hormones and
reproductive tracts of male and female animals.
Lower sperm counts;
decreased testosterone and enlarged prostates were reported in male animals,
and early puberty and disrupted hormonal cycles in female animals.
Polycarbonate, which
cannot be manufactured without BPA, is a clear and shatter-free plastic.
In addition to
beverage bottles, utensils and food packaging, it is used in automobiles,
medical equipment and compact discs.
Small amounts of the
chemical can leach from plastic containers, especially when heated, cleaned
with harsh detergents or exposed to acidic foods or drinks.
It also is used in
children's dental sealants and as a resin lining metal food cans.
https://www.freedrinkingwater.com/water_heal/medical1/1-prostate-cancer-cause-plastic-in-water.htm
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