Prenatal exposure to BPA alters the epigenome of the rat mammary gland and increases the propensity to neoplastic development.

ABSTRACT: Exposure to environmental estrogens (xenoestrogens) may play a causal role in the increased breast cancer incidence which has been observed in Europe and the US over the last 50 years. The xenoestrogen bisphenol A (BPA) leaches from plastic food/beverage containers and dental materials. Fetal exposure to BPA induces preneoplastic and neoplastic lesions in the adult rat mammary gland. Previous results suggest that BPA acts through the estrogen receptors which are detected exclusively in the mesenchyme during the exposure period by directly altering gene expression, leading to alterations of the reciprocal interactions between mesenchyme and epithelium. This initiates a long sequence of altered morphogenetic events leading to neoplastic transformation. Additionally, BPA induces epigenetic ch

SUBMITTER: Dhimolea E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4079328 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature