Biomedical Research

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) are highly lipophilic compounds and persistent in the environment, which converts them into substances able to accumulate in the food chain and persistent contaminants in soil, air, and water. Our objective was to determine the concentration of PCB in the serum of patients with Breast Cancer (BC) and its correlation with PCB in the soil of their homes in different areas of the Comarca Lagunera region in Mexico. With non-probabilistic sampling, we selected the homes of subjects with and without BC. In 20% of cases, the diagnosis was carried out 25 and 39 years of age. Sample analysis was by Gas-mass Chromatography (GC). The concentration of the different congeners was similar between the samples of household soil in cases and controls, with a sole exception with marginal significance (p=0.056), that is, congener 52, was greater in the cases. The highest concentrations found in soil in the study were for congeners 118 and 138. The highest risk found for BC was congener 195; however, it was not statistically significant, similar to the other congener quantified in soil. The correlation analysis between PCB serum concentrations and that of the soil exhibited a low concentration, the highest being for congener 101. The concentrations in serum of the 13 congener were significantly greater between cases and controls. No risk association was found among the individual concentrations of the 41 congeners’ PCB or among total PCB neither in soil nor with BC.

Author(s): Sandra Isabel Hernández-González, José Luis Ortega-Sánchez, José de Jesús Alba-Romero, Rogelio Recio-Vega, Norma Urtiz-Estrada, Maribel Cervantes-Flores Aurora Martínez-Romero
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