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EARLY LIFE EXPOSURES TO ENVIRONMENTAL COMPOUNDS: LESSONS LEARNED FROM ANIMAL MODELS
Citation:
FENTON, S. E. EARLY LIFE EXPOSURES TO ENVIRONMENTAL COMPOUNDS: LESSONS LEARNED FROM ANIMAL MODELS. IN: The Ribbon, 12(1):1-4, (2007).
Impact/Purpose:
This article describes the history behind the search for environmental factors influencing breast cancer susceptibility.
Description:
Abstract: This article was an invited submission by the Cornell University Breast Cancer & Environmental Risk Factors group, who publish the newsletter, The Ribbon. A recent paper on low dose effects of an atrazine metabolite mixture in Environmental Health Perspectives by the Fenton lab had caught the eye of the editor of The Ribbon, stimulating the invitation. This article describes the history behind the search for environmental factors influencing breast cancer susceptibility. It provides a table of the known endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) that alter mammary gland development and which of those compounds are known to alter the risk of mammary tumors. The article also describes hormesis and a description of a few chemicals that cause different effects in the mammary gland at either high or low exposure levels. There is a need for more studies of low dose EDCs to establish the dose ranges in which adverse developmental effects are noted in rodent models. More work on emerging EDCs is needed to help alert epidemiologists of those compounds affecting the mammary gland at low doses, similar to those exposures common in the human population. Impact: The quarterly newsletter, The Ribbon, is sent to approximately 4,500 readers specifically interested in breast cancer. This article will inform those readers, and others that may access the newsletter online, of the most up to date summary of known EDCs causing altered development of the mammary gland in rodent models. The readers will gain an understanding of the importance of establishing low dose effects in such studies and what research is needed in years to come. Many of the women that read this newsletter serve on research oversight committees, as well as grant review boards. This column is meant to inform the reader of data gaps and new data being generated in animal models that may inform those in the area of breast cancer risk.
