Parabens preferentially accumulate in metastatic breast tumors compared to benign breast tumors and the association of breast cancer risk factors with paraben accumulation

Abstract

Parabens are a category of antimicrobial preservatives that may play a role in the etiology and epidemiology of cancers. Parabens are employed in a wide range of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, personal care products, and processed foods. Parabens are thought to influence the evolution of carcinogenesis in breast cancer by acting as genotoxicants, cell proliferation factors, migratory and metastatic activators, and hyper-accumulate in breast cancer cells. A goal of this study was to characterize the relationship between paraben contamination and the incidence of both malignant and benign breast tumors in patients attending Hojati and Khanavadeh hospitals, in the city of Isfahan, Iran. A second goal was to examine the relationship among methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, and n-butyl paraben concentrations, exposure factors for parabens, and risk factors for breast cancer among patients with cancerous and non-cancerous breast tissues. A reference for mean concentration of total parabens in healthy, non-tumor tissue is 21 ng/g. In this study, benign breast tumors had a mean concentration of 357 ng/g of total parabens. In contrast, malignant breast tissue had a mean concentration of 472 ng/g(mean) total parabens. Malignant tumors had higher n-propyl paraben (β=39.52; p=0.039) and n-butyl paraben (β=43.92; p=0.028) concentrations among the patients with a positive human epidermal growth factor receptor2 (HER2) rather than the patients with a negative HER2. Results indicated that higher age was associated with higher n-butyl paraben concentration (β=1.97; p=0.012) among the patients with malignant tumors. Moreover, the body mass index (BMI) had a positive relationship with ethyl paraben concentration (β=6.37; p= 0.030) among patients with malignant tumors. The questionnaire-survey used in this study was unable to discern why there was higher accumulation of parabens in the tumor-tissue types. Larger population-based longitudinal studies are necessary to confirm this association and to evaluate the association of parabens with clinical indicators of breast cancer and mortality.