Metastasis and the Endocrine-Disrupting Compound Bisphenol A: An Emerging and Interdisciplinary Approach in Cancer Research
摘要
Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignancy in women worldwide. Metastasis is the leading cause of high mortality in most cancers. In BC, metastasis starts as a local disease and can spread to lymph nodes or distant organs, resulting in the limited effectiveness of therapy. Metastatic BC cells acquire aggressive characteristics caused by several biological conditions such as epithelial-mesenchymal transition, chromosomal instability, epigenetic factors, soluble factors, expression of adhesion molecules, and metabolic alterations, among others. Currently, preclinical studies suggest a link between increased risk for BC metastasis and exposure to bisphenols, especially bisphenol a (BPA). Bisphenols exert estrogenic effects and are found in different plastic products. Mechanistically, bisphenols bind to the estrogen receptor (ER) and activate the expression of genes associated with cell proliferation and BC. In this review, we expose BC metastasis addressed by BPA to facilitate the development of targeted therapeutics focused on metastasis.