Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Aug;5(8):e1536.
doi: 10.1002/cnr2.1536. Epub 2021 Aug 20.

Persistent organic pollutants and risk of cutaneous malignant melanoma among women

Maryam Darvishian  1 , Parveen Bhatti  1 , Éric Gaudreau  2 , Zenaida Abanto  1 , Charles Choi  3 , Richard P Gallagher  1   4 , John J Spinelli  5 , Tim K Lee  1   4
Affiliations

Persistent organic pollutants and risk of cutaneous malignant melanoma among women

Maryam Darvishian et al. Cancer Rep (Hoboken). 2022 Aug.

Abstract

Background: Despite the increasing trend of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) incidence in Canada, especially among females, few risk factors other than ultraviolet radiation exposure, have been identified.

Aim: We conducted a case-control study of 406 CMM cases and 181 controls to evaluate the potential impact of body burdens of various persistent organic pollutants on CMM risk.

Methods: Detailed data on potential confounding factors, including lifetime repeated sun exposure and skin reaction to repeated sun exposure, were collected. Gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry was used to assay plasma levels of 14 polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners and 11 organochlorine (OC) pesticides among cases and controls.

Results: Statistically significant trends of increased CMM risk were observed with increasing plasma concentrations of multiple PCB congeners, including PCBs 138, 153, 170, 180, 183 and 187. For example, compared to lowest plasma concentration quartile of PCB-138, the second, third and fourth quartiles were associated with 1.7 (95% CI: 0.9-2.9), 2.3 (95% CI: 1.3-4.1) and 2.4 (95% CI: 1.3-4.5) -fold increased risks of CMM, respectively. Similarly, increasing plasma concentrations of several OC pesticides (i.e., β-HCH, HCB, Mirex, oxychlordane and trans-Nonachlor) showed statistically significant trends with increased CMM risk. For example, compared to lowest plasma concentration quartile of β-HCH, the second, third and fourth quartiles were associated with 1.3 (95% CI: 0.7-2.3), 2.1 (95% CI: 1.2-3.7) and 2.3 (95% CI: 1.2-4.4) -fold increased risks of CMM, respectively.

Conclusion: Plasma levels of several persistent organic pollutants were highly correlated, suggesting that observed associations were not necessarily independent of each other. Given the highly correlated nature of exposure to PCB and OC analytes, sophisticated analyses that consider complex mixtures should be considered in future studies.

Keywords: melanoma; organochlorine pesticides; persistent organic pollutants; polychlorinated biphenyls; skin cancer.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Study flow diagram
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Canadian Cancer Statistics Advisory Committee . Canadian cancer statistics 2019. Toronto, ON: Canadian Cancer Society; 2019.
    1. Woods RR, Coppes MJ, Coldman AJ. Cancer incidence in British Columbia expected to grow by 57% from 2012 to 2030. B C Med J. 2015;57:190‐196.
    1. Gandini S, Sera F, Cattaruzza MS, et al. Meta‐analysis of risk factors for cutaneous melanoma: II. Sun exposure. Eur J Cancer. 2005;41:45‐60. - PubMed
    1. Gallagher RP, Macarthur AC, Lee TK, et al. Plasma levels of polychlorinated biphenyls and risk of cutaneous malignant melanoma: a preliminary study. Int J Cancer. 2011;128:1872‐1880. - PubMed
    1. IARC. IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans , International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France (2016) (polychlorinated and polybrominated biphenyls); 2016.

Publication types