Zearalenone and its metabolites in urine and breast cancer risk: A case-control study in Tunisia

• Zearalenone and its five metabolites were analyzed in a population of Tunisian women.
• The association between risk of breast cancer and concentration of α-ZAL was evaluated.
• The magnitude of associations were estimated by unconditional logistic regression.
• Crude and adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were calculated.
• Results suggest a potential role of α-ZAL in the risk of developing breast cancer.

Zearalenone (ZON) is a non-steroidal estrogenic mycotoxin produced by Fusarium species. The exposure risk to humans and animals is the consumption of contaminated food and animal feeds. It has been reported that ZON and some of its metabolites promote the development of hormone-dependent tumors. The aim of this case-control study was to estimate exposure to ZON and its five metabolites (α-zearalenol [α-ZOL], β-zearalenol [β-ZOL], α-zearalanol [zeranol, α-ZAL], β-zearalanol [teranol, β-ZAL] and zearalanone [ZAN]) by measuring urinary concentrations of these compounds, and to evaluate the risk of breast cancer related to this exposure. Chemical analyses were carried out by liquid–liquid extraction (LLE) and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry detection (UHPLC-MS/MS). Statistical analyses were performed in order to determine the association between exposure to these compounds and the development of breast cancer. Crude and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated by unconditional logistic regression to estimate the magnitude of the associations. The obtained results (adjusted OR = 1.54, 95% CI = 1.10–2.77) suggest a potential role of α-ZAL in the risk of developing breast cancer.