Pesticides and oncogenic modulation

Pesticides constitute a diverse class of chemicals used for the protection of agricultural products. Several lines of evidence demonstrate that organochlorine and organophosphate pesticides can cause malignant transformation of cells in in vitro and in vivo models. In the current minireview a comprehensive summary of recent in vitro findings is presented along with data reported from human population studies, regarding the impact of pesticide exposure on activation or dysregulation of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. Substantial mechanistic work suggests that pesticides are capable of inducing mutations in oncogenes and increase their transcriptional expression in vitro, whereas human population studies indicate associations between pesticide exposure levels and mutation occurrence in cancer-related genes. Further work is required to fully explore the exact mechanisms by which pesticide exposure affects the integrity and normal function of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes in human populations.