NIH Analysis Links Two 'Forever Chemicals' to Higher Risk of Aggressive Breast Cancer
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) released a study on November 5 finding that women with higher blood levels of two common per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), were more likely to develop estrogen receptor-negative (ER-negative) breast cancer. No clear association was observed between the two chemicals and breast cancer risk overall.
PFAS are a large group of chemicals used in common consumer products; often called "forever chemicals," they do not break down easily in the environment and can remain in the body for years. ER-negative tumors lack the receptors that allow estrogen to help cancer cells grow; compared with breast cancers that respond to estrogen, they tend to be more aggressive and have worse outcomes, and scientists know less about what raises the risk of this type of breast cancer.
NIH researchers and their collaborators measured 17 PFAS in blood collected years before diagnosis. Women in the group with the highest PFOA levels had a 67% higher rate of ER-negative breast cancer than those in the lowest group; for PFOS the rate was 93% higher, nearly twice as high. The researchers stressed that these numbers describe relative differences between groups, not an individual woman's chance of developing breast cancer. The research drew on the Sister Study, led by NIH's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, which enrolled 50,884 women ages 35-74 in the United States and Puerto Rico from 2003 to 2009, each with a sister previously diagnosed with breast cancer. The PFAS analysis included 1,609 women who developed breast cancer and a comparison sample of 2,269 women, and the findings were confirmed using a meta-analysis of prior research. The study is reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
"Our findings indicate that certain legacy PFAS, including PFOA and PFOS, are associated with a higher risk of ER-negative breast cancer, a more aggressive tumor type with few known risk factors," said NIH Stadtman Investigator Alexandra White, who led the study. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said the study links two forever chemicals to a higher risk of ER-negative breast cancer and demands further investigation. First author Che-Jung Chang noted that PFAS exposure is potentially modifiable. NIH said PFOA and PFOS have been largely phased out and replaced with new PFAS compounds, and that more research is needed on the replacements.
(Source: National Institutes of Health)
Source: National Institutes of Health
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于 Bethesda 的美国国立卫生研究院临床中心（10号楼）。NIH Image Gallery 摄，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The NIH Clinical Center (Building 10) in Bethesda, Maryland. Photo by NIH Image Gallery, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
