Journal of Population Therapeutics and Clinical Pharmacology

Abstract

Endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) are present in high amounts in the environment, they can get into food from the environment posing a high risk to human health due to their interactions with mammalian endocrine systems. Since these chemicals are similar in structure to hormones like estrogen, they can interfere with endocrine signaling, leading to harmful effects. Breast cancer is one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers among women and exposure to estrogenic EDC increases the risk for the development of breast cancer. However, the mechanisms that allow EDC to contribute to cancer remain elusive. Cancer cells undertake distinct metabolic pathways to utilize the nutrients in the tumor microenvironment and synthesize macromolecules de novo to undergo rapid proliferation. EDCs can lead to the development of breast cancer by dysregulating cell signaling pathways linked to metabolism. Metabolomics, an advancement in -omics technologies that interrogate molecular pathways favoring cancer development and progression can be used to analyze these altered pathways. This review will summarize recent discoveries regarding EDCs and how they facilitate the development of breast cancer by inducing metabolic alterations.