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Comment
. 2011 Sep;26(5):583-4.
doi: 10.1093/mutage/ger033. Epub 2011 Jul 1.

Styrene exposure and risk of cancer

James Huff  1 , Peter F Infante
Affiliations
Comment

Styrene exposure and risk of cancer

James Huff et al. Mutagenesis. 2011 Sep.

Abstract

Styrene is widely used in the manufacture of synthetic rubber, resins, polyesters and plastics. Styrene and the primary metabolite styrene-7,8-oxide are genotoxic and carcinogenic. Long-term chemical carcinogenesis bioassays showed that styrene caused lung cancers in several strains of mice and mammary cancers in rats and styrene-7,8-oxide caused tumours of the forestomach in rats and mice and of the liver in mice. Subsequent epidemiologic studies found styrene workers had increased mortality or incidences of lymphohematopoietic cancers (leukaemia or lymphoma or all), with suggestive evidence for pancreatic and esophageal tumours. No adequate human studies are available for styrene-7,8-oxide although this is the primary and active epoxide metabolite of styrene. Both are genotoxic and form DNA adducts in humans.

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Comment on

  • Cytogenetic and DNA damage on workers exposed to styrene.
    Teixeira JP, Gaspar J, Coelho P, Costa C, Pinho-Silva S, Costa S, Da Silva S, Laffon B, Pásaro E, Rueff J, Farmer P. Teixeira JP, et al. Mutagenesis. 2010 Nov;25(6):617-21. doi: 10.1093/mutage/geq049. Epub 2010 Aug 20. Mutagenesis. 2010. PMID: 20729469

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