Associations
between Novel and Legacy Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl
Substances in Human Serum and Thyroid Cancer: A Case and Healthy Population
in Shandong Province, East China
posted on 2021-10-07, 18:46authored byMei Liu, Gaoxin Zhang, Lingling Meng, Xu Han, Yingming Li, Yali Shi, An Li, Mary E. Turyk, Qinghua Zhang, Guibin Jiang
Per-
and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are widely detected
in the environment and may cause adverse human health effects after
exposure. Studies on the effect of PFASs on some health end points,
including cancer, are still limited and show inconsistent results.
In this research, 319 participants were recruited from Shandong Province,
East China, consisting of patients with thyroid cancer and healthy
controls. Seven novel and legacy PFASs were frequently detected (detection
rate > 75%) in the serum samples of the participants. The concentrations
of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) were the highest in the case and
control groups. Males showed significantly higher concentrations of
PFASs than females. Exposure to PFASs was inversely associated with
the risk of thyroid cancer. In the control group, we identified significant
positive associations between PFASs and free thyroxine (FT4) as well
as between PFOA and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) in females.
A significant negative association between perfluorononanoic acid
(PFNA) and triiodothyronine (T3) was observed in males. Our results
suggest that exposure to certain PFASs could interfere with thyroid
function. To our knowledge, this is the first case–control
study demonstrating associations between novel and legacy PFASs in
human and thyroid cancer.