Laboratório de Biologia Tumoral, Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná, Francisco Beltrão, PR, Brasil.
Programa de Ciências da Saúde Aplicadas, Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná, Francisco Beltrão, PR, Brasil.
Braz J Med Biol Res. 2024 Jan 22;57:e13060. doi: 10.1590/1414-431X2023e13060. eCollection 2024.
Pesticides have been pointed out as hormone disruptors and may significantly affect the prognosis of hormone-dependent diseases such as breast cancer (BC). Here, we investigated the impact of occupational pesticide exposure on systemic cortisol levels in female rural workers diagnosed with BC. Occupational exposure was assessed by interviews with a standardized questionnaire. Plasma samples (112 from pesticide-exposed women and 77 from unexposed women) were collected in the afternoon, outside the physiological cortisol peak, and analyzed by a chemiluminescent paramagnetic immunoassay for the quantitative determination of cortisol levels in serum and plasma. The results from both groups were categorized according to patients' clinicopathological and exposure data. BC pesticide-exposed women presented higher levels of cortisol than the unexposed. Higher cortisol levels were also detected in the exposed group with more aggressive disease (triple-negative BC), with tumors over 2 cm, with lymph node metastases, and with high risk of disease recurrence and death. These findings demonstrated that there is an association between pesticide exposure and BC that affected cortisol levels and correlated to poor disease prognosis.
农药已被指出是激素干扰物，可能会显著影响乳腺癌（BC）等激素依赖性疾病的预后。在这里，我们研究了职业性农药暴露对被诊断为 BC 的农村女性工人的系统皮质醇水平的影响。职业暴露通过标准化问卷访谈进行评估。采集下午（不在生理皮质醇高峰时）的血浆样本（暴露组 112 例，未暴露组 77 例），并用化学发光顺磁免疫分析法分析血清和血浆中皮质醇水平的定量测定。根据患者的临床病理和暴露数据对两组结果进行分类。BC 农药暴露组女性的皮质醇水平高于未暴露组。在更具侵袭性的疾病（三阴性 BC）、肿瘤大于 2cm、淋巴结转移以及疾病复发和死亡风险高的暴露组中，也检测到更高水平的皮质醇。这些发现表明，农药暴露与 BC 之间存在关联，影响皮质醇水平，并与不良疾病预后相关。
