Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Microplastics as emerging carcinogens: from environmental pollutants to oncogenic drivers

This review examines growing evidence that microplastics and nanoplastics may play a role in cancer development, with these particles found in human tumor tissues from the lungs, colon, stomach, breast, and other organs. The particles appear to promote cancer through chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, DNA damage, and disruption of key cancer-related signaling pathways. While direct proof of causation in humans is still lacking, the accumulating evidence from lab studies, animal experiments, and human tissue analysis suggests microplastics deserve serious attention as potential contributors to cancer risk.

2025 Molecular Cancer 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Microscopic menace: exploring the link between microplastics and cancer pathogenesis

This review examines the growing evidence linking microplastic exposure to cancer development in humans. Microplastics can accumulate in the body and trigger inflammation, oxidative stress, and other biological changes associated with tumor growth. While more clinical research is needed, the review highlights that microplastics should be taken seriously as a potential factor in cancer risk.

2025 Environmental Science Processes & Impacts 8 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

From Exposure to Oncogenesis: the Role of Microplastics and Associated Pollutants in Cancer - a Literature Review

This literature review examined the growing evidence linking microplastic exposure to cancer development. Microplastics have been found in human lung, liver, and colon tissue, and research suggests they may promote cancer through chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, and by carrying known carcinogens like heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants into the body.

2025 International Journal of Innovative Technologies in Social Science
Article Tier 2

The Relationship Between Microplastics and Nanoplastics with Cancer: An Emerging Health Concern

This review explores the emerging relationship between micro- and nanoplastic exposure and cancer risk in humans. Researchers summarized evidence suggesting that microplastics can carry carcinogenic substances and may trigger inflammatory and oxidative stress pathways linked to tumor development. The study highlights that while early evidence raises concern, more research is needed to establish clear causal connections between plastic particle exposure and specific cancer types.

2024 International Journal of Hematology and Oncology 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and Cancer: A Comprehensive Review of Their Impact on Tumor Progression and Mechanisms of Carcinogenesis

This comprehensive review examines the growing body of evidence linking microplastic exposure to various types of cancer, including colorectal, lung, liver, and breast cancers. Researchers found that microplastics and nanoplastics may promote tumor progression through mechanisms including oxidative stress, chronic inflammation, and disruption of cellular signaling pathways. While the evidence is still emerging, the study highlights the need for further research into the potential cancer-related risks of widespread microplastic exposure.

2025 Journal of Environmental Pathology Toxicology and Oncology 2 citations
Article Tier 2

The impact of environmental microplastics as emerging carcinogens: A public health concern

This review investigated the mechanisms by which microplastics may contribute to cancer development, examining studies from 2010 to 2024. Researchers found that microplastics can induce oxidative stress, inflammation, and DNA damage through multiple pathways, and that human exposure occurs primarily through ingestion, inhalation, and dermal contact. The study suggests that microplastics represent an emerging class of environmental concern warranting further investigation into their long-term health effects.

2024 Multidisciplinary Reviews 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Do microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) directly contribute to human carcinogenesis?

This review examines whether microplastics and nanoplastics could directly contribute to cancer development in humans. Evidence from lab and animal studies shows these particles can cause DNA damage, chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, and disrupt important cancer-related signaling pathways. While a direct causal link to human cancer has not been proven yet, the review argues that microplastics should be considered potential cancer-promoting agents that warrant urgent further research.

2025 Environmental Pollution 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Evaluating the relationship between microplastics and nanoplastics contamination and diverse cancer types development

This review examines growing evidence that micro- and nanoplastics found in human tissues may contribute to cancer development through several pathways. These tiny particles can generate harmful molecules called reactive oxygen species, cause chronic inflammation, and disrupt cell growth signals, all of which are known to promote cancer. While long-term, high-level exposure likely poses the greatest risk, more research is needed to understand the full cancer-related dangers of microplastic exposure.

2025 Environmental Pollution 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro(nano)plastics pollution and human health: How plastics can induce carcinogenesis to humans?

This review examines how microplastics and nanoplastics enter the human body through food, water, and air, and how they may contribute to cancer development. Common plastic types like polystyrene and PVC, along with toxic chemicals they carry such as PAHs and PCBs, have been linked to DNA damage, oxidative stress, and inflammation, all of which can promote cancer. The paper highlights that while the evidence is growing, more research is needed to understand the full cancer risk from chronic microplastic exposure.

2022 Chemosphere 367 citations
Article Tier 2

Insights into the potential carcinogenicity of micro- and nano-plastics.

This review examined existing evidence on the carcinogenic potential of micro- and nano-plastics, finding studies demonstrating genotoxicity, oxidative DNA damage, disruption of cell signaling, and tumor-promoting effects, while noting that direct human carcinogenicity data remain limited and mechanistic pathways require further investigation.

2023 Mutation research. Reviews in mutation research
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and cancer

This review examines evidence linking microplastics to cancer risk, noting that microplastics have been detected at higher concentrations in human tumor tissues than adjacent healthy tissue, and that they can act as vectors for carcinogens while inducing oxidative stress, inflammation, and genotoxicity.

2025 European Journal of Cancer Prevention
Article Tier 2

Role of microplastics in the tumor microenvironment (Review)

This review examines how microplastics may help tumors grow by influencing the environment around cancer cells. Microplastics can interact with immune cells, connective tissue cells, blood vessel cells, and the tissue scaffolding around tumors in ways that may promote cancer progression and inflammation. While more research is needed, the findings raise important questions about whether chronic microplastic exposure could affect cancer development in humans.

2025 Oncology Letters 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Exposure and inhaling of microplastics: An evidence of cause of cancer

This review examined the evidence linking microplastic inhalation to cancer risk, covering how inhaled MPs accumulate in the lungs, trigger chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, and DNA damage, and may contribute to lung carcinogenesis. The authors identified microplastic inhalation as an underappreciated occupational and environmental cancer risk.

2025 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

The micro(nano)plastics perspective: exploring cancer development and therapy

This review explores the emerging link between microplastics and cancer development. Microplastics can trigger chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, and hormone disruption, all of which are known pathways that may promote cancer growth. Interestingly, researchers are also studying whether engineered microplastics could be used as drug carriers for cancer therapy, though long-term effects remain unclear.

2025 Molecular Cancer 52 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Cancer Progression: Biology and Public Health

This review examines emerging evidence that microplastics and nanoplastics may contribute to cancer-related processes by crossing biological barriers and accumulating in tissues. The study highlights that these particles can cause oxidative stress, inflammation, DNA damage, and barrier dysfunction at the cellular level, and may promote tumor-supporting processes including angiogenesis and immune evasion.

2025 Biomedicines 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Exposure and inhaling of microplastics: An evidence of cause of cancer

This review examined microplastic inhalation as a potential cause of cancer, surveying pathways by which inhaled MP particles accumulate in lung tissue and drive oncogenic processes through inflammation, oxidative damage, and DNA strand breaks. The evidence reviewed supports classifying microplastic inhalation as an emerging environmental cancer risk factor.

2025 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Microplastics: an often-overlooked issue in the transition from chronic inflammation to cancer

This review explores how microplastics that accumulate in the human body may trigger long-lasting inflammation, which is a known driver of cancer development. The authors describe how microplastics can disrupt the gut microbiome, activate immune responses, and alter signaling pathways in ways that could promote tumor growth over time.

2024 Journal of Translational Medicine 46 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic Contamination: A Rising Environmental Crisis With Potential Oncogenic Implications

This review examines how microplastics detected in human tissues — blood, placenta, and organs — may act as vectors for carcinogens, including adsorbed heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants, and discusses emerging evidence linking MP accumulation to oncogenic processes.

2025 Cureus
Article Tier 2

Plastic pollution-Microplastics: Cancer related issues

This review examines how microplastics may contribute to cancer risk, summarizing evidence that ingested microplastics can cross the gut epithelium, accumulate in tissues, induce oxidative stress and inflammation, and carry carcinogenic chemical additives.

2025 World Journal of Biology Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Article Tier 2

The hidden poison - microplastic : Inflammatory catalyst of cancer development

This review discusses how microplastics act as inflammatory agents within biological tissues, summarizing evidence that ingested and inhaled microplastics can trigger oxidative stress, immune responses, and chronic inflammation in humans and animals.

2024 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL PLANT SCIENCES
Article Tier 2

The Impact of Environmental Factors on Cancer Risk: A Comprehensive Review

This paper is not about microplastics in a specific research sense; it is a broad review of how environmental factors influence cancer risk, with no substantive microplastic content evident from the available abstract.

2023
Article Tier 2

The hidden threat: Microplastics and cancer biology

This review synthesizes current research on the potential links between micro- and nanoplastic exposure and cancer biology, examining how these particles may contribute to tumor development in organs including the gut, lungs, skin, liver, kidney, and brain. The study suggests that chronic exposure to plastic particles can trigger molecular changes such as oxidative stress, inflammation, and DNA damage that are associated with cancer initiation, though clear causal evidence in humans is still lacking.

2026 Journal of Hazardous Materials
Article Tier 2

Rising Concern About the Carcinogenetic Role of Micro-Nanoplastics

This review examined the emerging concern that micro- and nanoplastics may play a role in cancer development, either directly or by carrying chemical carcinogens into the body. Researchers noted that while direct evidence is still limited, the rising incidence of certain cancers in younger populations alongside increasing environmental plastic contamination has raised important questions. The study calls for more focused research to understand whether long-term microplastic exposure may contribute to cancer risk and what preventive measures might be warranted.

2024 International Journal of Molecular Sciences 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Rising Concern About the Carcinogenetic Role of Micro‐Nanoplastics

This review raised concerns about the carcinogenic potential of micro- and nanoplastics, synthesizing evidence that these particles can induce DNA damage, oxidative stress, and cellular transformation. It called for accelerated research into whether microplastic exposure increases human cancer risk.

2024 Preprints.org 1 citations