Carcinogenicity of talc and acrylonitrile

• Published in: The lancet oncology 2024-08, Vol.25 (8), p.962-963
• Main Authors: Stayner, Leslie T, Carreón-Valencia, Tania, Demers, Paul A, Fritz, Jason M, Sim, Malcolm R, Stewart, Patricia, Tsuda, Hiroyuki, Cardenas, Andres, Consonni, Dario, Davies, Laurie, De Matteis, Sara, Felley-Bosco, Emanuela, Ghio, Andrew J, Göen, Thomas, Grosse, Yann, Gualtieri, Alessandro F, Josephy, P David, Koutros, Stella, Linhart, Igor, Louro, Henriqueta, O'Brien, Katie M, Panzacchi, Simona, Peña, Laura, Rössner, Pavel, Schildkraut, Joellen M, Stefaniak, Aleksandr B, Wentzensen, Nicolas, Wild, Pascal, Xu, Yuanyuan, de Conti, Aline, Facchin, Caterina, Wedekind, Roland, Ahmadi, Ayat, Blanco, Jessica, Chittiboyina, Shirisha, Kulasingam, Shalini, MacLehose, Richard, Motlhale, Melitah, Shah, Sanam, Suonio, Eero, Mattock, Heidi, Kunzmann, Andrew, Madia, Federica, Pasqual, Elisa, Benbrahim-Tallaa, Lamia, Schubauer-Berigan, Mary K
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acrylonitrile; Acrylonitrile - adverse effects; Acrylonitrile - toxicity; Animals; Asbestos; Bladder cancer; Brain cancer; Carcinogenicity; Carcinogens; Carcinogens - toxicity; Cell death; Cell growth; Cell proliferation; Epithelial cells; Expert witness testimony; Females; Food contamination; Humans; Hyperplasia; Intestinal absorption; Lung cancer; Males; Metabolism; Occupational Exposure - adverse effects; Ovarian cancer; Squamous cell carcinoma; Talc; Talc - adverse effects; Tumors; Workers; Working groups
• ISSN: 1470-2045; 1474-5488; 1474-5488
• DOI: 10.1016/S1470-2045(24)00384-X

Associations between acrylonitrile exposure and lung cancer were also observed in other studies, including a large case-control study.3 For bladder cancer, there was a positive exposure–response relationship for mortality based on categories of participants' individual average exposure in the pooled cohort study2 and imprecise associations in the other cohorts; thus, chance, bias, and confounding could not be reasonably ruled out. Talc is a high-production-volume mineral used in plastics, ceramics, paint, paper, roofing materials, rubber products, animal feed, food, fertilisers, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. Orally ingested talc is excreted shortly after dosing, and no or negligible intestinal absorption or translocation to other organs has been observed. Since Volume 93, more consistent positive associations for ever-use versus never-use have been reported in pooled cohort studies and case-control studies, including evidence of an exposure–response relationship with frequency or duration of use.9,10 However, bias from differential exposure misclassification could not be excluded based on a bias analysis conducted by the Working Group and confounding by asbestos contamination of the talc also could not be ruled out. The rationale for “sufficient” evidence included the unusual tumour types reported by this study (ie, bilateral malignant pheochromocytomas); and that tumours were observed in both sexes in a study conducted under Good Laboratory Practice.11 Talc induces chronic inflammation; in experimental systems in vivo, consistent and coherent evidence was observed in various tissues following different routes and exposures of up to 2 years.11 Talc alters cell proliferation, cell death, or nutrient supply; talc promoted anchorage-independent growth in human primary and immortalised ovarian epithelial cells.