Exposure to air pollution related to breast cancer: study

The researchers warned that women working near busy roads are at high risk of developing breast cancer due to traffic-related air pollution. The team from the University of Stirling in Scotland analyzed the case of a woman who developed breast cancer after 20 years working as a border guard at the busiest border crossing in North America. The woman was at least a member of five other border guards who developed breast cancer 30 months apart and at another neighboring border post a group of seven other cases was noted.

According to Michael Gilbertson, the results "infer a cause-and-effect relationship" between breast cancer and very high exposures to traffic-related air pollution containing breast carcinogens. A link between night work and cancer has also been identified. "This new research indicates the role of air pollution related to road traffic in the increasing incidence of breast cancer in the general population," Gilbertson said.

The women's group has all developed cancer that would have been caused by the exhaust fumes of what researchers have termed a "new occupational disease". There is a one in 100 chance that the cases are a coincidence, according to the study published in the journal New Solutions, because the cancers were all very similar and close to each other. A review of previous research has confirmed that the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes – which attempt to prevent tumor growth – can be "silenced" by exposures to dioxins and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, both present in exhaust. BRCA2 degrades rapidly in the presence of aldehydes, also components of the exhaust gases.

"There is a lot more research to be done," Gilbertson said. "But we now have plausible mechanisms to infer how the BRCA1 / 2 tumor suppressors of this highly exposed border guard have become dysfunctional and have probably contributed to the persistent epidemic of sporadic, early, premenopausal breast cancer in its patients." colleagues. "With this new knowledge, industry and government can plan new designs for industrial and commercial facilities to reduce occupational exposures to traffic-related air pollution," Gilbertson said.