Breast Cancer Characteristics in the Population of Survivors Participating in the World Trade Center Environmental Health Center Program 2002–2019

Abstract

The destruction of World Trade Center on 11 September 2001 exposed local community members to a complex mixture of known carcinogens and potentially carcinogenic substances. To date, breast cancer has not been characterized in detail in the WTC-exposed civilian populations. The cancer characteristics of breast cancer patients were derived from the newly developed Pan-Cancer Database at the WTC Environmental Health Center (WTC EHC). We used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program breast cancer data as a reference source. Between May 2002 and 31 December 2019, 2840 persons were diagnosed with any type of cancer at the WTC EHC, including 601 patients with a primary breast cancer diagnosis (592 women and 9 men). There was a higher proportion of grade 3 (poorly differentiated) tumors (34%) among the WTC EHC female breast cancers compared to that of the SEER-18 data (25%). Compared to that of the SEER data, female breast cancers in the WTC EHC had a lower proportion of luminal A (88% and 65%, respectively), higher proportion of luminal B (13% and 15%, respectively), and HER-2-enriched (5.5% and 7%, respectively) subtypes. These findings suggest considerable differences in the breast cancer characteristics and distribution of breast cancer intrinsic subtypes in the WTC-exposed civilian population compared to that of the general population. This is important because of the known effect of molecular subtypes on breast cancer prognosis.

Global DNA Methylation Profiles in Peripheral Blood of WTC-Exposed Community Members with Breast Cancer

“…Breast cancer was the most commonly diagnosed cancer type overall (22%) and among women (46%) [8]. The characteristics of 592 breast cancer cases (as of 31 December 2019) have recently been described [9]. Women are underrepresented in previous studies of cancer in WTC-exposed responder cohorts, hence breast cancer as a consequence of WTC exposure remains largely unexplored.…”

Molecular Clustering Analysis of Blood Biomarkers in World Trade Center Exposed Community Members with Persistent Lower Respiratory Symptoms

“…Additionally, we identified biomarkers that were associated with WTC exposure. Our group and others have previous established association of WTC exposures with LRS, cancer, mental health disorders, neuropathic symptoms, and cognitive declines in WTC survivors [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46].…”

Genome-wide DNA methylation profiles and breast cancer among World Trade Center survivors

“…7,8 WTC-associated cancers, in general, maybe more aggressive than those diagnosed in unexposed individuals, [9][10][11] with WTCassociated breast cancers more likely to be poorly differentiated and with an aggressive molecular subtype. 12 To date, the biological mechanisms of WTC-associated carcinogenesis remain poorly understood, complicating preventive and therapeutic care. Given the complex mix of carcinogenic agents present in the WTC dust including metals, asbestos, and organic pollutants, 1,5 and the capacity of these chemicals to modify the DNA methylation, [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] it has been hypothesized that WTC dust exposure may lead to epigenome-wide changes.…”