Breast cancer risk in relation to occupations with exposure to carcinogens and endocrine disruptors

Breast implant: Mammographs: Normal breast (left) and cancerous breast (right). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Canadian, British and Scottish researchers said there was a link between breast cancer in women who work in jobs exposed to a "toxic soup" of chemicals.

"A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that mammary carcinogens and/or EDCs contribute to the incidence of breast cancer. Yet there remain gaps and limitations. This exploratory population-based case–control study contributes to one of the neglected areas: occupational risk factors for breast cancer. The identification of several important associations in this mixed industrial and agricultural population highlights the importance of occupational studies in identifying and quantifying environmental risk factors and illustrates the value of taking detailed occupational histories of cancer  patients"

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2012/11/22/Workplace-chemicals-up-breast-cancer-risk/UPI-51041353641959/#ixzz2D26vN0Ay

More about "Breast Cancer" and occupational exposure

Workers' Compensation: Breast Cancer Linked to Occupational ...

May 29, 2010

"Odds ratios (ORs) were increased for the usual risk factors for breast cancer and, adjusting for these, risks increased with occupational exposure to several agents, and were highest for exposures occurring before age 36 ...

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Workers' Compensation: Breast Cancer Presumed Occupational ...

Mar 18, 2011

Fire fighters in Canada are supporting legislation that would establish a legal presumption that breast cancer is an occupationally related illness. The legislation also creates a presumption that 3 other cancers (skin, prostate ...

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Workers' Compensation: Night Work and an Increase Risk of Cancer

Oct 26, 2012

The Danish government has begun to pay compensation benefits to women who develop breast cancer after working night shifts and irregular work hours. So far approximately 40 women have received benefits according to .

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Workers Compensation Benefits Awarded for Breast Cancer

Jan 12, 2011

The Nevada Supreme Court has awarded workers' compensation benefits to a firefighter who alleged that her occupational exposure at work to toxic substances caused her breast cancer. The court held that there was ...

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Night Shift Work Causally Linked to an Increase in Breast Cancer

Working at night increases the risk of breast cancer according to a recent study.

Objectives The potential mechanisms that link night-shift work with breast cancer have been extensively discussed. Exposure to light at night (LAN) depletes melatonin that has oncostatic and anti-estrogenic properties and may lead to a modified expression of estrogen receptor (ER) α. Here, we explored the association between shift work and breast cancer in subgroups of patients with ER-positive and -negative tumors.
Methods GENICA (Gene–ENvironment Interaction and breast CAncer) is a population-based case–control study on breast cancer with detailed information on shift work from 857 breast cancer cases and 892 controls. ER status was assessed by immunohistochemical staining. Associations between night-shift work and ER-positive and -negative breast cancer were analyzed with conditional logistic regression models, adjusted for potential confounders.
Results ER status was assessed for 827 cases and was positive in 653 and negative in 174 breast tumors. Overall, 49 cases and 54 controls were “ever employed” in shift work including night shifts for ≥1 year. In total, “ever shift work” and “ever night work” were not associated with an elevated risk of ER-positive or -negative breast tumors. Night work for ≥20 years was associated with a significantly elevated risk of ER-negative breast cancer [odds ratio (OR) 4.73, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.22–18.36].
Conclusions Our case–control study suggests that long-term night-shift work is associated with an increased risk of ER-negative breast cancers. Further studies on histological subtypes and the analysis of other potentially relevant factors are crucial for discovering putative mechanisms

The report:  Rabstein S, Harth V, Pesch B, Pallapies D, Lotz A, Justenhoven C, Baisch C,Schiffermann M, Haas S, Fischer H-P, Heinze E, Pierl C, Brauch H, Hamann U, Ko Y,Brüning T, "Night work and breast cancer estrogen receptor status – results from the German GENICA study", Scand J Work Environ Health 2013;39(5):448-455 doi:10.5271/sjweh.3360,  2010;36(2):163-179 2010;36(2):134-141

Read more ablout "breast cancer" and workers' compensation:

Workers' Compensation: Breast Cancer Risk Doubles With ...

Jul 02, 2013

Objectives Long-term night work has been suggested as a risk factor for breast cancer; however, additional studies with more comprehensive methods of exposure assessment to capture the diversity of shift patterns are ...

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

Breast Cancer Linked to Workers' Exposure at Semiconductor Factory

Dec 15, 2012

A semiconductor plant worker, who had been exposed to solvents and radiation while working 5 years at a semiconductor factory in South Korea has been held to have suffered an compensable disease related to her ...

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

Workers' Compensation: Breast Cancer Presumed Occupational ...

Mar 18, 2011

Fire fighters in Canada are supporting legislation that would establish a legal presumption that breast cancer is an occupationally related illness. The legislation also creates a presumption that 3 other cancers (skin, prostate ...

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

Breast Cancer and the Environment: A Life Course Approach

Dec 05, 2012

Breast Cancer and the Environment: A Life Course Approach - Institute of Medicine: "With more than 230,000 new cases of breast cancer expected to be diagnosed in the United States in 2011, many wonder about the role ...

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

Night Shift Work Causally Linked to an Increase in Breast Cancer

By Jon Gelman from Jon L Gelman LLC

Working at night increases the risk of breast cancer according to a recent study.

Objectives The potential mechanisms that link night-shift work with breast cancer have been extensively discussed. Exposure to light at night (LAN) depletes melatonin that has oncostatic and anti-estrogenic properties and may lead to a modified expression of estrogen receptor (ER) α. Here, we explored the association between shift work and breast cancer in subgroups of patients with ER-positive and -negative tumors.

Methods GENICA (Gene–ENvironment Interaction and breast CAncer) is a population-based case–control study on breast cancer with detailed information on shift work from 857 breast cancer cases and 892 controls. ER status was assessed by immunohistochemical staining. Associations between night-shift work and ER-positive and -negative breast cancer were analyzed with conditional logistic regression models, adjusted for potential confounders.

Results ER status was assessed for 827 cases and was positive in 653 and negative in 174 breast tumors. Overall, 49 cases and 54 controls were “ever employed” in shift work including night shifts for ≥1 year. In total, “ever shift work” and “ever night work” were not associated with an elevated risk of ER-positive or -negative breast tumors. Night work for ≥20 years was associated with a significantly elevated risk of ER-negative breast cancer [odds ratio (OR) 4.73, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.22–18.36].

Conclusions Our case–control study suggests that long-term night-shift work is associated with an increased risk of ER-negative breast cancers. Further studies on histological subtypes and the analysis of other potentially relevant factors are crucial for discovering putative mechanisms

The report:  Rabstein S, Harth V, Pesch B, Pallapies D, Lotz A, Justenhoven C, Baisch C,Schiffermann M, Haas S, Fischer H-P, Heinze E, Pierl C, Brauch H, Hamann U, Ko Y,Brüning T, "Night work and breast cancer estrogen receptor status – results from the German GENICA study", Scand J Work Environ Health 2013;39(5):448-455 doi:10.5271/sjweh.3360,  2010;36(2):163-179 2010;36(2):134-141

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Workers' Compensation: Breast Cancer Risk Doubles With ...

Jul 02, 2013

Objectives Long-term night work has been suggested as a risk factor for breast cancer; however, additional studies with more comprehensive methods of exposure assessment to capture the diversity of shift patterns are ...

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

Breast Cancer Linked to Workers' Exposure at Semiconductor Factory

Dec 15, 2012

A semiconductor plant worker, who had been exposed to solvents and radiation while working 5 years at a semiconductor factory in South Korea has been held to have suffered an compensable disease related to her ...

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Workers' Compensation: Breast Cancer Presumed Occupational ...

Mar 18, 2011

Fire fighters in Canada are supporting legislation that would establish a legal presumption that breast cancer is an occupationally related illness. The legislation also creates a presumption that 3 other cancers (skin, prostate ...

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Breast Cancer and the Environment: A Life Course Approach

Dec 05, 2012

Breast Cancer and the Environment: A Life Course Approach - Institute of Medicine: "With more than 230,000 new cases of breast cancer expected to be diagnosed in the United States in 2011, many wonder about the role ...

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A Cancer Battle We Can Win

Today's post is shared from nytimes.com THE war against cancer can be confusing, with providers, insurers and policy makers debating the effectiveness of treatments, prevention programs and research. But there is one significant victory within our grasp. There is, increasingly, a consensus that CT screening for lung cancer can save thousands of lives each year. Lung cancer, the No. 1 cancer killer, claims the lives of approximately 435 people in the United States every day. In fact, more women die of lung cancer each year than breast, ovarian and uterine cancers combined. While lung cancer is curable with surgery in its early stages, most people are given diagnoses of lung cancer after symptoms develop, when the disease is often advanced and resistant to treatment. Now, however, there is good evidence that we can reduce the number of people who die of this devastating disease. A recent study called the National Lung Screening Trial proved that we do that by using a low-dose CT scan to detect early stage lung cancer. The study showed that in older people, both current and former heavy smokers, annual screening reduced the number of deaths from lung cancer by 20 percent. Dozens of medical organizations, including the United States Preventive Services Task Force, now recommend CT lung screening for high-risk individuals. Approximately nine million Americans meet the task force’s criteria for high risk: current smokers between 55 and 80 who have smoked, on average, at least one pack of cigarettes a day for 30...

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Cancer deaths rise to 8.2 million, breast cancer sharply up

A boy who is a cancer patient rests inside the children's ward at the Cancer Centre Welfare Home and Research Institute in Kolkata March 16, 2012. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri

LONDON (Reuters) - The global death toll from cancer rose to 8.2 million in 2012 with sharp rises in breast cancer as the disease tightened its grip in developing nations struggling to treat an illness driven by Western lifestyles. Cancer deaths were up 8 percent from 7.6 million in a previous survey in 2008 and breast cancer killed 522,000 women last year, up 14 percent in the same period, according to the World Health Organisation's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). "Breast cancer is also a leading cause of cancer death in the less developed countries of the world," said David Forman, head of IARC's Section of Cancer Information, the group that compiles the global cancer data. He said this was "partly because a shift in lifestyles is causing an increase in incidence, and partly because clinical advances to combat the disease are not reaching women living in these regions." An estimated 14.1 million people developed cancer in 2012, up from 12.7 million in 2008. And 1.7 million women were newly diagnosed with breast cancer last year, up by more than 20 percent from 2008. IARC's report, called GLOBOCAN 2012, gives the most up-to-date estimates for 28 different types of cancer in 184 countries and offers an overview of the global cancer burden. It found that the most commonly diagnosed cancers worldwide in men and women combined were lung, breast and colorectal cancers. The most common causes of cancer death were lung, liver and stomach...

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Novel cancer vaccine holds promise against ovarian cancer, mesothelioma

Today's post is shared from the Massachusetts General Hospital and sciencedaily.com.

A novel approach to cancer immunotherapy may provide a new and cost-effective weapon against some of the most deadly tumors, including ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. Investigators report that a protein engineered to combine a molecule targeting a tumor-cell-surface antigen with another protein that stimulates several immune functions prolonged survival in animal models of both tumor.

A novel approach to cancer immunotherapy -- strategies designed to induce the immune system to attack cancer cells -- may provide a new and cost-effective weapon against some of the most deadly tumors, including ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. Investigators from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center report in the Journal of Hematology & Oncology that a protein engineered to combine a molecule targeting a tumor-cell-surface antigen with another protein that stimulates several immune functions prolonged survival in animal models of both tumors.

"Some approaches to creating cancer vaccines begin by extracting a patient's own immune cells, priming them with tumor antigens and returning them to the patient, a process that is complex and expensive," says Mark Poznansky, MD, PhD, director of the MGH Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center and senior author of the report. "Our study describes a very practical, potentially broadly applicable and low-cost approach that could be used by oncologists everywhere, not just in facilities able to harvest and handle patient's cells.

The MGH team's vaccine stimulates the patient's own dendritic cells, a type of immune cell that monitors an organism's internal environment for the presence of viruses or bacteria, ingests and digests pathogens encountered, and displays antigens from those pathogens on their surface to direct the activity of other immune cells. As noted above, existing cancer vaccines that use dendritic cells require extracting cells from a patient's blood, treating them with an engineered protein or nucleic acid that combines tumor antigens with immune-stimulating molecules, and returning the activated dendritic cells to the patient.

The approach developed by the MGH team starts with the engineered protein, which in this case fuses an antibody fragment targeting a protein called mesothelin -- expressed on the surface of such tumors as mesothelioma, ovarian cancer and pancreatic cancer -- to a protein from the tuberculosis bacteria that stimulates the activity of dendritic and other immune cells. In this system, the dendritic cells are activated and targeted against tumor cells while remaining inside the patient's body.

In the experiments described in the paper, the MGH team confirmed that their mesothelin-targeting fusion protein binds to mesothelin on either ovarian cancer or mesothelioma cells, activates dendritic cells, and enhances the cells' processing and presentation of several different tumor antigens, inducing a number of T-cell-based immune responses. In mouse models of both tumors, treatment with the fusion protein significantly slowed tumor growth and extended survival, probably through the activity of cytotoxic CD8 T cells.

"Many patients with advanced cancers don't have enough functioning immune cells to be harvested to make a vaccine, but our protein can be made in unlimited amounts to work with the immune cells patients have remaining," explains study co-author Jeffrey Gelfand, MD, senior scientist at the Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center. "We have created a potentially much less expensive approach to making a therapeutic cancer vaccine that, while targeting a single tumor antigen, generates an immune response against multiple antigens. Now if we can combine this with newly-described ways to remove the immune system's "brakes" -- regulatory functions that normally suppress persistent T-cell activity -- the combination could dramatically enhance cancer immunotherapy."

Poznansky adds that the tumors that might be treated with the mesothelin-targeting vaccine -- ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer and mesothelioma -- all have poor survival rates. "Immunotherapy is generally nontoxic, so this vaccine has the potential of safely extending survival and reducing the effects of these tumors, possibly even cutting the risk of recurrence. We believe that this approach could ultimately be used to target any type of cancer and are currently investigating an improved targeting approach using personalized antigens." The MGH team just received a two-year grant from the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program to continue their research.

Journal Reference:
Jianping Yuan, Satoshi Kashiwagi, Patrick Reeves, Jean Nezivar, Yuan Yang, Nadiah Arrifin, Mai Nguyen, Gilberte Jean-Mary, Xiaoyun Tong, Paramjit Uppal, Svetlana Korochkina, Ben Forbes, Tao Chen, Elda Righi, Roderick Bronson, Huabiao Chen, Sandra Orsulic, Timothy Brauns, Pierre Leblanc, Nathalie Scholler, Glenn Dranoff, Jeffrey Gelfand, Mark C Poznansky. A novel mycobacterial Hsp70-containing fusion protein targeting mesothelin augments antitumor immunity and prolongs survival in murine models of ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. Journal of Hematology & Oncology, 2014; 7 (1): 15 DOI:10.1186/1756-8722-7-15

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Mesothelioma Asbestos Cancer Claims the Life of Ed Lauter, Prolific

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Breast Cancer Linked to Workers' Exposure at Semiconductor Factory

A semiconductor plant worker, who had been exposed to solvents and radiation while working 5 years at a semiconductor factory in South Korea has been held to have suffered an compensable disease related to her exposure at work. The 36 year old women was employed between 1995 and 2000 at plant. Three years after contracting breast cancer she died. Workers' Compensation benefits were awarded.

Recent studies have associated exposure to solvents as an increased risk factor for breast cancer.

"Endocrine disrupting chemicals and carcinogens, some of which may not yet have been classified as such, are present in many occupational environments and could increase breast cancer risk. Prior research has identified associations with breast cancer and work in agricultural and industrial settings. The purpose of this study was to further characterize possible links between breast cancer risk and occupation, particularly in farming and manufacturing, as well as to examine the impacts of early agricultural exposures, and exposure effects that are specific to the endocrine receptor status of tumours."

Breast cancer risk in relation to occupations with exposure to carcinogens and endocrine disruptors: a Canadian case--control study
Environmental Health 2012, 11:87 doi:10.1186/1476-069X-11-87 Published: 19 November 2012

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Verdict: $2 Billion -- Herbicide Occupational Exposures - The Next Wave of Serious Compensation Claims

A jury in California has awarded a couple $2 Billion as a result of cancer contracted after using RoundUp manufactured by Monsanto. This is the 3rd verdict in a row in a series of trials against the pesticide manufacturer.

Breast Cancer and the Environment: A Life Course Approach - Institute of Medicine

Breast Cancer and the Environment: A Life Course Approach - Institute of Medicine:

"With more than 230,000 new cases of breast cancer expected to be diagnosed in the United States in 2011, many wonder about the role that environmental exposures may be playing. Susan G. Komen for the Cure® asked the IOM to review the current evidence on breast cancer and the environment, consider gene–environment interactions, review the research challenges, explore evidence-based actions that women might take to reduce their risk, and recommend directions for future research. Overall, the IOM finds that major advances have been made in understanding breast cancer and its risk factors, but more needs to be learned about its causes and how to prevent it.

"The report urges a life-course approach to studying breast cancer because new information suggests that women and girls might be more susceptible to some risk factors during certain life stages.

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Workers Compensation Benefits Awarded for Breast Cancer

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The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent Skin Cancer

The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent Skin Cancer calls on partners in prevention from various sectors across the nation to address skin cancer as a major public health problem. Federal, state, tribal, local, and territorial governments; members of the business, health care, and education sectors; community, nonprofit, and faith-based organizations; and individuals and families are all essential partners in this effort. The goal of this document is to increase awareness of skin cancer and to call for actions to reduce its risk. The Call to Action presents the following five strategic goals to support skin cancer prevention in the United States: increase opportunities for sun protection in outdoor settings; provide individuals with the information they need to make informed, healthy choices about ultraviolet (UV) radiation exposure; promote policies that advance the national goal of preventing skin cancer; reduce harms from indoor tanning; and strengthen research, surveillance, monitoring, and evaluation related to skin cancer prevention. Skin cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States, and most cases are preventable.1–3 Skin cancer greatly affects quality of life, and it can be disfiguring or even deadly.1,4–6 Medical treatment for skin cancer creates substantial health care costs for individuals, families, and the nation. The number of Americans who have had skin cancer at...

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Racing for the Cure: The Case for More Cancer Reseach Funding

Many occupational disease are malignancies. Over the decades we are encourage to "wal and Run" as society races for a cure. Once cannot no lose track of the big picture that research will require massive funding that only governmental entities will provide. Today's post is shared from nytimes.com

ON THE CANCER FRONTIER
One Man, One Disease, and a Medical Revolution
By Paul A. Marks and James Sterngold
PublicAffairs, $26.99.

You can’t be against curing cancer, just like you can’t be against motherhood or apple pie. But while the notion of finding “the cure” is immensely appealing, it can be misleading, even misguided.

Marks, a former president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering, draws from his long career in cancer research to reveal the complex, messy and fascinating reality that regrettably does not fit neatly onto a bumper sticker.

Marks describes cancer as “the existential illness”: The group of diseases that we lump under a single name arises from the basic mechanics of life. “As long as cell division is the means by which we propagate and survive as a species,” Marks writes, “cancers will develop.” Not exactly a snappy fund-raising rallying cry, but the blunt fact.

“The truth is,” he states, “basic research has been the engine for most of the successes in the war on cancer.” And basic research is open-ended and freewheeling, full of incomparable drudgery, quirky results, frustrating dead ends and unexpected left turns. But this is how scientific knowledge advances, and indeed enormous strides have been made: The death rate for cancer patients in the 35-44 age group, for example, has dropped by half over the last half-century or so.

Marks describes other factors that have contributed to the improved outlook for patients — expanded clinical trials, the development of specialized cancer centers, more accurate diagnostics, patient empowerment, the idea of patient-centered care and more widespread screening tests.

Nevertheless, it is the research at the bench that gets the well-deserved credit. Congressional cuts to the National Institutes of Health are about the worst prescription for cancer you could possibly dream up.

Danielle Ofri, a physician at Bellevue Hospital, is the author of “What Doctors Feel: How Emotions Affect the Practice of Medicine.”

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Call for lung cancer screening in UK

Guest post shared from the bbc.com

Delays introducing lung cancer screening in the UK could cost thousands of lives, warns a leading cancer expert.

Prof John Field of Liverpool University says planning should start now for nationwide screening of older smokers by the end of 2016.

US data suggests screening can detect lung cancer early, leading to 20% fewer deaths, he told Nature journal.

Currently, 75% of lung cancer patients are diagnosed too late to save them.

Prof Field, who is leading the UK Lung Cancer Screening trial (UKLS), said that in 2012 someone died of lung cancer in the European Union every two minutes.


"The good news is that screening for lung cancer using low-dose computed tomography [CT scans] could reduce this enormous burden of mortality, through early detection and treatment that improves survival," he said.

"Every year we delay could needlessly sacrifice tens of thousands to the world's biggest cancer killer."

Trials under way

US guidelines suggest older people with a history of heavy smoking should be offered annual low-dose CT scans to screen for lung cancer.

The test is recommended for people aged 55 to 80 who smoked a...


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• Racing for the Cure: The Case for More Cancer Reseach Funding (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

Why Everyone Seems to Have Cancer

EVERY New Year when the government publishes its Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, it is followed by a familiar lament. We are losing the war against cancer. Half a century ago, the story goes, a person was far more likely to die from heart disease. Now cancer is on the verge of overtaking it as the No. 1 cause of death. Troubling as this sounds, the comparison is unfair. Cancer is, by far, the harder problem — a condition deeply ingrained in the nature of evolution and multicellular life. Given that obstacle, cancer researchers are fighting and even winning smaller battles: reducing the death toll from childhood cancers and preventing — and sometimes curing — cancers that strike people in their prime. But when it comes to diseases of the elderly, there can be no decisive victory. This is, in the end, a zero-sum game. The rhetoric about the war on cancer implies that with enough money and determination, science might reduce cancer mortality as dramatically as it has with other leading killers — one more notch in medicine’s belt. But what, then, would we die from? Heart disease and cancer are primarily diseases of aging. Fewer people succumbing to one means more people living long enough to die from the other. The newest cancer report, which came out in mid-December, put the best possible face on things. If one accounts for the advancing age of the population — with the graying of the baby boomers, death itself is on the rise...

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