Developmental exposure to endocrine disruptors is suspected to be one of the main factors responsible for the increased incidence of breast cancer in industrialized countries. New data published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism show that exposure to dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane during fetal life is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Relevant articles
Open Access articles citing this article.
-
Mosquito control exposures and breast cancer risk: analysis of 1071 cases and 2096 controls from the Ghana Breast Health Study
Breast Cancer Research Open Access 11 December 2023
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Soto, A. M. & Sonnenschein, C. Environmental causes of cancer: endocrine disruptors as carcinogens. Nat. Rev. Endocrinol. 6, 363–370 (2010).
Cohn, B. A. et al. DDT exposure in utero and breast cancer. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. http://dx.doi.org/10.1210/jc.2015-1841.
Paulose, T., Speroni, L., Sonnenschein, C. & Soto, A. M. Estrogens in the wrong place at the wrong time: fetal BPA exposure and mammary cancer. Reprod. Toxicol. 54, 58–65 (2015).
Gilbert, S. F. & Epel, D. Ecological developmental biology: the environmental regulation of development, health, and evolution (Sinauer Associates, 2015).
Soto, A. M. & Sonnenschein, C. The tissue organization field theory of cancer: a testable replacement for the somatic mutation theory. BioEssays 33, 332–340 (2011).
Soto, A. M., Brisken, C., Schaeberle, C. M. & Sonnenschein, C. Does cancer start in the womb? Altered mammary gland development and predisposition to breast cancer due to in utero exposure to endocrine disruptors. J. Mammary Gland Biol. Neoplasia 18, 199–208 (2013).
National Cancer Institute. SEER cancer statistics factsheets: breast cancer [online], (2015).
Cohn, B. A., Wolff, M. S., Cirillo, P. M. & Sholtz, R. I. DDT and breast cancer in young women: new data on the significance of age at exposure. Environ. Health Perspect. 115, 1406–1414 (2007).
Ibarluzea, J. M. et al. Breast cancer risk in the combined effect of environmental estrogens. Cancer Causes Control 15, 591–600 (2004).
Diamanti-Kandarakis, E. et al. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals: an Endocrine Society scientific statement. Endocr. Rev. 30, 293–342 (2009).
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Award Number R01ES08314. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences or the National Institutes of Health. The authors also acknowledge Cheryl Schaeberle for her excellent editorial assistance.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
PowerPoint slides
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Soto, A., Sonnenschein, C. DDT, endocrine disruption and breast cancer. Nat Rev Endocrinol 11, 507–508 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2015.125
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2015.125
This article is cited by
-
Mosquito control exposures and breast cancer risk: analysis of 1071 cases and 2096 controls from the Ghana Breast Health Study
Breast Cancer Research (2023)
-
Emulsion-enhanced remediation of lindane and DDT in soils
Journal of Soils and Sediments (2021)
-
Perinatal Exposure to Bisphenol A or Diethylstilbestrol Increases the Susceptibility to Develop Mammary Gland Lesions After Estrogen Replacement Therapy in Middle-Aged Rats
Hormones and Cancer (2017)
-
Environmental endocrine disruptors: Effects on the human male reproductive system
Reviews in Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders (2015)