Positive correlation between human exposure to organophosphate esters and gastrointestinal cancer in patients from Wuhan, China

As kinds of endocrine disruptors, organophosphate esters (OPEs) pollution in the environment had received increasing attention recently. Food and water intake were two important exposure pathways for OPEs. However, the studies about the potential association between OPEs and gastrointestinal cancer were limited. This study investigated the possible association between OPEs and gastrointestinal cancer. All cancer patients were diagnosed with gastrointestinal cancer from a Grade 3 A hospital in Wuhan, China, while the control group was non-cancer healthy persons. The results showed that 6 OPEs were found in the control samples, while 8 in the samples from patients with gastrointestinal cancer. The detection frequencies of OPEs in gastrointestinal cancer patients were significantly higher than those in the control group (p < 0.05 or p < 0.01), except for triethyl phosphate (TEP) and tris (methylphenyl) phosphate (TMPP) in the gastric cancer group. The concentrations of OPEs in the control group were significantly lower than those in the gastric cancer group and colorectal cancer group (p < 0.01). In the control group and gastrointestinal cancer group, TEP was the dominant pollutant. Correlation analysis found that concentrations of TEP, tris(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate (TCIPP), triphenyl phosphate (TPHP), TMPP, tris(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (TEHP), and 2-ethylhexyl diphenyl phosphate (EHDPP) were associated with gastric cancer (p < 0.01), and concentrations of TEP, TCIPP, TPHP, TMPP and TEHP were associated with colorectal cancer (p < 0.01). A cluster analysis divided the 34 patients with gastric cancer and 40 patients with colorectal cancer in four groups. The results showed that the elderly male patients with gastric cancer were more sensitive to the exposure of EHDPP, while the TEP exposure was more sensitive to the relatively young gastrointestinal cancer patients. These findings indicated that OPEs might play a role in developing gastrointestinal cancer.