Abstract
Breast cancers include a heterogeneous group of diseases with clinical behaviors that may vary according to the hormonal receptor status. However, limited knowledge is available on the role of breast cancer environmental and occupational risk factors in the onset of specific molecular disease phenotypes. Therefore, the aim of this review was to provide an overview on the possible correlation between occupational chemical exposures and breast cancers with a specific receptor pattern. Pubmed, Scopus, and ISI Web of Science databases were systematically reviewed to identify all the studies addressing chemical exposure in workplaces and risk of breast cancer classified according to the presence of estrogen and/or progesterone receptors. Some positive associations were reported between solvent, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, organophosphoric insecticide, and synthetic fiber exposure and estrogen receptor-positive cases, while other investigations demonstrated a relationship with receptor-negative tumors or failed to detect any significant effect. Overall, further investigation should overcome limitations due to the self-reported information on work histories, the chemical classification in general categories, and the lack of environmental or biological monitoring exposure data. This may support the development of suitable and individually “tailored” occupational risk assessment and management strategies to protect the health of exposed workers, particularly those with hypersusceptibility conditions.
Highlights
Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed female tumor and the leading cause of malignancy mortality in women [1]
This review represents a first attempt to provide a comprehensive overview on the possible association between occupational chemical exposure and the risk of developing breast cancer with particular hormone receptor status
This aspect seems to be an important issue to be explored, since some studies failed to detect a significant increase in the “overall” risk of breast cancer with respect to chemical exposure, while could demonstrate significant changes in specific tumor ER, PR positive or negative neoplasms [14,16]
Summary
Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed female tumor and the leading cause of malignancy mortality in women [1]. Breast cancer represents a global, public health priority. Breast tumors include a heterogeneous group of diseases characterized by different histological types and molecular features that may be responsible for highly variable clinical behavior [3]. In this latter regard, tumoral subtypes with diverse hormonal receptor status, i.e., the presence or the absence of estrogen (E) and progesterone (P) receptors, may vary for disease aggressiveness, response to therapy, prognosis, and possibility of relapse [4]. Employment in different workplace sectors, like farming, plastic production, metal working, chemical and rubber manufacturing, and healthcare, Cancers 2019, 11, 1882; doi:10.3390/cancers11121882 www.mdpi.com/journal/cancers
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