Certain Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Forever Chemicals Identified as Potential Risk Factor for Thyroid Cancer
Published:31 Oct.2023 Source:The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Mount Sinai researchers have discovered a link between certain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and an increased risk for thyroid cancer, according to a study published in eBioMedicine.
The researchers investigated associations between plasma PFAS levels and thyroid cancer diagnosis using BioMe, a medical record-linked biobank at Icahn Mount Sinai. They studied 88 thyroid cancer patients with plasma samples collected either at or before cancer diagnosis and 88 non-cancer controls -- people who did not develop any form of cancer -- who matched on sex, race/ethnicity, age (within five years), body mass index, smoking status, and the year of sample collection. The researchers measured levels of eight PFAS in blood samples from the BioMe participants using untargeted metabolomics. The levels of individual PFAS were compared between the group of participants who developed thyroid cancer and the group of healthy participants, using different statistical models to estimate accuracy.
The results showed that exposure to perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (n-PFOS, a group of chemicals under the PFAS umbrella) led to a 56 percent increased risk of thyroid cancer diagnosis. Additionally, there was also a positive association between the exposure of n-PFOS and the risk of thyroid cancer, as well as a positive association with a few additional PFAS chemicals.