An international team of researchers to whom the University of Granada belongs has analysed the effects of prenatal exposure to three persistent organic pollutants on the birth weight of babies

In this work, published in Environment International magazine, levels of exposure to these pollutants were assessed in the mother’s blood and milk, as well as in the newborn’s umbilical cord blood, within a population of 9377 mother-child pairs

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are chemical compounds which can naturally occur in the environment, but mostly come from human activity. They are chemically very stable, which means that they can stay in the environment long after they have been produced and released and, moreover, they can stay long periods of time in the adipose tissue of animals and human beings.

An international team of researchers to whom the University of Granada (UGR) belongs has analysed the effects of prenatal exposure to three of those compounds on the birth weight of babies: polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs, specifically PCB-153), DDT pesticide, and its metabolite DDE. The results have been published in Environment International magazine.

For that purpose, they analysed a huge database from eleven European birth cohorts, from which they extracted 9377 mother-child pairs. The researchers assessed the levels of exposure to this pollutants in the mother’s blood and milk, as well as in the newborn’s umbilical cord blood.

Umbilical cord blood
The results showed that newborn babies with higher PCB-153 level in umbilical cord blood have a higher risk of being born with lower birth weight than babies with lower levels. «Moreover, this association was stronger if the mother smoked during pregnancy», researcher Mariana Fernández Cabrera, from the Department of Radiology and Physic Medicine of the UGR, explains. However, no relation between DDE and birth weight was observed.

Low birth weight is associated with breathing problems during infancy, as well as with other diseases suffered throughout life. Therefore, these results indicate that «regulating the use of and exposure to PCBs and eliminating wastes which could contain PCBs is very important, so we can prevent potential risks for human health as well as for the environment», the author stresses.

The UGR researcher reminds us that infants are specially vulnerable to environmental pollutants due to their anatomic and physiologic immaturity, and because their detoxification mechanisms are not completely developed until their organs are completely formed.

Forbidden in the 70’s
Although POPs were banned in most countries during the decades of the 70’s and 80’s, «environmental exposure has led to them accumulating in human bodies (specially in adipose tissue), so most Earth inhabitants have stored them in great proportion», says Mariana Fernández.

With the exception of individuals exposed to POPs in their job posts, most exposures take place by means of the diet. POPs exposure comes mainly from animal sources, but they are also present in water, air and soil.

«Exposure to environmental pollutants during the early stages of life may have negative consequences when born, such as, for example, delay in the fetal development (which manifests in the form of lower birth weight), delay in intrauterine growth, preterm labour or congenital malformation», the researcher concludes.

Bibliographic references:

Prenatal exposure to PCB-153, p,p′-DDE and birth outcomes in 9000 mother–child pairs: Exposure–response relationship and effect modifiers

Maribel Casas, Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, David Martínez, FerranBallester, Xavier Basagaña, MikelBasterreche, Leda Chatzi, Cécile Chevrier, Merete Eggesbø, Mariana F. Fernandez, Eva Govarts, MònicaGuxens, Joan O.Grimalt, Irva Hertz-Picciotto, Nina Iszatt, Monika Kasper-Sonnenberg, HannuKiviranta, ManolisKogevinas, LubicaPalkovicova, Ulrich Ranft, Greet Schoeters, EvridikiPatelarou, Maria Skaalum Petersen, Maties Torrent

Environment International
Volume 74, January 2015, Pages 23–31

Link to complete article:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016041201400289X

Researchers from the University of Granada and the Andalusian Health Service belonging to the Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research open the gate to the development of new anti-tumoral drugs and more personalized treatments against this disease

Today, February 4, we celebrate World Cancer Day

Researchers from the University ofGranada and the Andalusian Health Service (Servicio Andaluz de Salud,SAS) belonging to the Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research (Centrode Genómica e Investigación Oncológica, GENYO) have patented a new methodthat allows to identify the cells causing metastasis in cancer, with a simpleblood analysis.

 This research, first of its kind inthe world, has been presented this morning on the occasion of World Cancer Day,and opens the gate to the development of new anti-tumoral drugs and morepersonalized treatments against this disease.

During the presentation, JoséAntonio Lorente Acosta, GENYO Scientific manager and lead researcher of theGroup of Liquid Biopsy and Metastasis, stressed the clinical significance thatmonitoring the metastatic process in cancer has.

«More than 80% of cancer-relateddeaths are due to metastasis, not the primary tumor. That’s why preciselyunderstanding how this mechanism works is fundamental for developing new, moreefficient drugs against it», the UGR professor says.

The mostcomplete radiography of Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs)

GENYO researchers Juan José DíazMochón and María José Serrano Fernández have explained that the new,patented markers «allow to identify, for the first time, all of the existingCTCs sub-populations, the cells responsible of the metastatic process, in whichthey travel through the blood and the lymphatic system and colonize organs farfrom the primary tumor».

GENYO researchers have managed tomake the most complete radiography of CTCs to this day, «with which we can makea diagnosis and prognosis of the cancer with just a blood analysis, and whichwill allow us to monitor, in real time, both the efficacy of the treatments andthe occurrence of metastasis, even when the primary tumor has already beenremoved».

The authors of this research, whichinclude oncologists José Luis García Puche and José ExpósitoHernández, stated that «nowadays, there are few researches that analyzethis ‘valley of the death’ that spans from the origination of the primary tumorto the metastatic process in another organ due to the action of the CTCs.That’s why it’s mandatory to further study how these tumor cells work and tostablish therapeutic targets against them».

On liquid biopsy

The concept of liquid biopsy hasbeen recently introduced in the biomedical context for the personalizedmonitoring of cancer patients. According to the researchers at GENYO, «the maingoal of liquid biopsy is the detection of the potential virulence of thedisease with just a blood analysis and, based on the biological markers foundin the test, decide what treatment could be the most effective for eachpatient».

These personalized tests makepossible to obtain biological information about the tumor in cases in which asolid biopsy is not possible, as is the case of patients with metastatic lungcancer. Moreover, they give us extremely necessary information, complementaryto that obtained by solid biopsies, given that liquid biopsies allow to detectif the therapeutic targets identified keep constant throughout time.

«This information is vital, ascancer is not a stable disease: tumor cells are capable of changing theirgenetic characteristics throughout the tumoral process», professor Lorentestresses.

Therefore, the importance of liquidbiopsies lies in the sheer nature of the disease, which implies genetic changesin tumor cells, which additionally allow said cells to avoid the influence ofboth the immune system and the treatment given to the patient.

The application of these tests inthe clinical practice is an unavoidable necessity which will give access not onlyto the establishment of more personalized treatments, but also to a reductionin health spending. This could be possible thanks to the doctors being able toearlier identify the response to the treatment, so avoiding over-treatment andthe high toxicity associated with these therapies.

WorldCancer Day

Today, February 4, we celebrateWorld Cancer Day, an event that aims to raise public awareness and to mobilizesociety to progress in the prevention and control of this disease.

Cancer is one of the leading causesof death in Spain: one out of three males and one out of four females will bediagnosed of cancer in their lifetime.

Bibliographicreferences:

 Serrano, MJ et al. miRNA in situ hybridization in circulatingtumor cells – MishCTC, Scientific Reports 5,: 9207 (2015)doi:10.1038/srep09207

Serrano, MJ et al. EMT and EGFR in CTCs cytokeratin negativenon-metastatic breast cancer Oncotarget, 5(17), 7486-7497. EP13382436.7

Contact:

JoséAntonio Lorente Acosta

Centro de Genómica e InvestigaciónOncológica (GENYO) [Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research]

Telephone: (+34) 958 715 500

E-mail: jlorente@ugr.es