PFAS Exposure, High-Fat Diet Drive Prostate Cells’ Metabolism Into Pro-Cancer State
upstart writes:
However, consuming a high-fat diet significantly accelerated development of tumors in the PFAS-exposed mice, said the scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the U. of I. Chicago who conducted the research. PFAS is an abbreviation for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, often described as "forever chemicals" because they don't degrade naturally and persist as environmental pollutants. Studies have associated PFAS with harmful effects in laboratory animals.
"Our data suggest that exposure to PFAS synergizes with dietary fat to activate the protein-coding gene PPARa, altering cells' metabolism in ways that escalate the carcinogenic risk in normal prostate cells while driving tumor progression in malignant cells," said food science and human nutrition professor Zeynep Madak-Erdogan, the principal investigator on the project.
"These alterations in cell metabolism that occur downstream of PPARa activation may underpin the increased prostate cancer risk observed in men who are exposed to PFAS," said Madak-Erdogan, who also holds an appointment as a health innovation professor with the Carle Illinois College of Medicine.
In their analyses of gene transcription activity, the scientists found that PPARa was expressed at significantly greater levels in the tumor cells of the PFAS-exposed mice that ate the high-fat diet. PPARa controls cell proliferation and differentiation, aids in immune and inflammatory responses and has been found to play a key role in the development of liver and kidney cancers, according to the study.
Previous studies, including some conducted in humans, linked PFAS with a range of serious health problems such as prostate cancer, the most common male cancer in the U.S.
Journal Reference:
Ozan Berk Imir, Alanna Zoe Kaminsky, Qian-Ying Zuo, et al. Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance Exposure Combined with High-Fat Diet Supports Prostate Cancer Progression, Nutrients (DOI: 10.3390/nu13113902)
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