NEW YORK, June 20, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- World
Trade Center (WTC) responders with prostate cancer showed signs
that exposure to dust from the World Trade Center site had
activated chronic inflammation in their prostates, which may have
contributed to their cancer, according to a study by Mount Sinai researchers in Molecular Cancer
Research in June.
Inflammation has long been considered an important factor in
prostate cancer progression. Researchers looked at the inflammatory
and immune systems of World Trade Center responders to help prevent
new prostate cancer cases in that group and to understand how other
large-scale environmental exposures to multiple carcinogens may
develop into cancer.
This is the first study of people who were exposed to the WTC
dust and who subsequently developed prostate cancer. This research
and further study of the expression of genes and pathways in other
patients whose environmental exposures caused inflammation could
lead to clinical trials that offer anti-inflammatory or
immune-targeted therapies in similar cases.
"World Trade Center responders show an overall increase in
cancer incidence, and specifically of certain cancer types such as
prostate cancer," said Emanuela
Taioli, MD, PhD, Director of the Institute for Translational
Epidemiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Associate Director for
Population Science at The Tisch Cancer Institute. "It is important
to address the reasons why this is happening in order to prevent
new cases in this aging cohort. Our findings represent the first
link between exposure to World Trade Center dust and prostate
cancer."
This work pairs data from first responders and from a study of
rats exposed to actual dust from Ground Zero. The dust samples,
which contain metals and organic compounds such as polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons and polychlorinated biphenyl, are unique
because they are the only existing samples taken on September 11, 2001. All other dust samples were
collected after a significant storm on September 14, 2001.
Both the human and rat prostate cancer tissues show an increase
in cells that indicate inflammation, specifically immune cells
called T helper cells. Studies of the rat tissue and prostate
cancer tissue samples taken from responders indicated to the
Mount Sinai researchers that
chronic inflammation started occurring in the prostate after
exposure to the World Trade Center dust, and that inflammation may
have contributed to prostate cancer.
"Several years ago, I saw a first responder in his 40s who began
having symptoms of prostatitis, a painful condition that involves
inflammation of the prostate, soon after exposure to the World
Trade Center dust," said William Oh,
MD, Chief of the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology at the
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount
Sinai and Deputy Director at The Tisch Cancer Institute. "He
ultimately developed a high-grade prostate cancer several years
later. It suggested to me that there might be a link between his
exposure and cancer, but I knew that I would need to examine it
systematically."
This study was sponsored by grants from the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health, the National Institutes of Health,
and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
About the Mount Sinai Health System
The Mount Sinai Health System is New
York City's largest integrated delivery system, encompassing
eight hospitals, a leading medical school, and a vast network of
ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. Mount Sinai's vision is to produce the safest
care, the highest quality, the highest satisfaction, the best
access and the best value of any health system in the nation. The
Health System includes approximately 7,480 primary and specialty
care physicians; 11 joint-venture ambulatory surgery centers; more
than 410 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of
New York City, Westchester, Long
Island, and Florida; and 31
affiliated community health centers. The Icahn School of Medicine
is one of three medical schools that have earned distinction by
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Report's "Best Medical Schools", aligned with a U.S. News &
World Report's "Honor Roll" Hospital, No. 12 in the nation for
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SOURCE Mount Sinai Health System