Distribution of Persistent, Lipid-soluble Chemicals in Breast and Abdominal Adipose Tissues: Lessons Learned from a Breast Cancer Study

Objectives: We sought to determine differences between concentrations of persistent, lipid-soluble chemical contaminants in breast and abdominal adipose tissues and to explore whether concentrations measured in one tissue could predict concentrations in the other tissue.

Methods: We analyzed surgical specimens and measured concentrations of prevalent dioxins, furans, polychlorinated biphenyls, organochlorine pesticides, and brominated diphenyl ethers to determine their partitioning between breast and abdominal adipose tissues of 21 women. The women constituted a subgroup, undergoing mastectomies with simultaneous breast reconstruction, of a case-control study evaluating links between breast cancer and body burdens of organohalogen contaminants.

Results: For every contaminant, differences between concentrations in breast and abdominal adipose tissues did not exceed the analytical error. Results indicated that, with some notable exceptions, measurements in breast and abdominal adipose tissues were correlated and that concentrations of target chemicals in one tissue could be derived from measurements in the other tissue.

Conclusions: This information will allow comparison of results from body burden studies that used different tissues. It may also facilitate future breast cancer studies by allowing selection of controls among patients undergoing surgical procedures other than breast surgery, minimizing concerns about overmatching. We also observed large differences in the lipid content of surgical specimens. These differences underscore the need for lipid adjustment of concentrations to avoid misclassification.