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Serum Organochlorine Pesticide Residues and Risk of Testicular Germ Cell Carcinoma: A Population-Based Case-Control Study

Departments of ¹ Biostatistics, ² Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, and ³ Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington; ⁴ Program in Epidemiology, Division of Public Health Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington; and ⁵ National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia

Requests for reprints: Mary L. Biggs, Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington, Box 354922, Seattle, WA 98195-4922. Phone: 206-897-1945; Fax: 206-616-4075. E-mail: mlbiggs{at}u.washington.edu

Testicular germ cell carcinoma (TGCC) is the most common malignancy among men ages 20 to 34 years. Although the pathogenesis of TGCC is poorly understood, suboptimal androgen levels or impaired androgen signaling may play a role. Some persistent organochlorine pesticides commonly found in human tissue possess antiandrogenic properties. We examined whether the risk of TGCC is associated with serum levels of 11 organochlorine pesticides, including p,p'-DDE, and whether the p,p'-DDE-TGCC association is modified by CAG or GGN repeat polymorphisms in the androgen receptor gene. We conducted a population-based case-control study among 18- to 44-year-old male residents of three Washington State counties. Cases (n = 246) were diagnosed during 1999 to 2003 with a first, primary TGCC. Controls (n = 630) were men of similar age with no history of TGCC from the same population identified through random-digit telephone dialing. Questionnaires elicited information on demographic, medical, and lifestyle factors. A blood specimen provided serum for gas chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry analysis of organochlorine pesticide residues and DNA for genotyping. We observed no clear patterns between TGCC risk and concentrations of any of the organochlorines measured, nor did we observe that the risk associated with p,p'-DDE was modified by androgen receptor CAG (<23 versus 23 repeats) or GGN (<17 versus 17 repeats) genotype. This study does not provide support for the hypothesis that adult exposure to organochlorine pesticides is associated with risk of TGCC. Due to uncertainty regarding how well organochlorine levels measured in adulthood reflect exposures during early life, further research is needed using exposure measurements collected in utero or during infancy. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2008;17(8):2012–8)