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Identification and analysis of microplastics in human penile cancer tissues
Summary
Researchers found microplastics in tissue samples from patients with penile cancer, with the most common types being polyethylene, polypropylene, and PVC. Cancerous tissue contained significantly more microplastics and a greater variety of plastic types than nearby healthy tissue, suggesting a possible link between microplastic accumulation and cancer development that needs further investigation.
BACKGROUND: Widespread pollution from microplastics (MPs) has been identified as a significant contributor to adverse health effects in humans. This research aimed to investigate the presence of MPs in human penile cancer. METHODS: The Laser Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (LDIR) was employed to detect and analyze MPs in the cancerous tissue (CT) and adjacent normal tissue (ANT) of 17 patients diagnosed with penile cancer. Subsequently, the abundance, sizes and types of MPs in CT were compared to those in the corresponding ANT. RESULTS: Nine types of MPs were identified in 85.3 % of the samples analyzed, with an average abundance of 6.42 particles per gram. The most prevalent types of MPs were polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), primarily falling within the 20-50 μm size range. MPs exhibited higher abundance and diversity in CT compared to ANT, with comparable size distributions evident in both of two areas. CONCLUSION: Our study firstly confirm the presence of MPs in tissue samples from patients with penile cancer. Additionally, the abundance and variety of MPs in cancerous tissue are significantly higher than in adjacent normal tissue, although they had similar size distributions.