Pesticides and cancer: insights into toxicoproteomic-based findings

Humans are often exposed to a variety of pollutants that contribute to an individual's risk for diseases including cancer. Animal, cell cultures and epidemiological lines of evidence demonstrate that exposure to various environmental pollutants including pesticides are associated with increasing frequency of cancers. Organophosphates, organochlorines, carbamates, pyrethroids, the major groups of pesticides, have been reported to be carcinogenic in various models. However, the results of these studies are still controversial, nevertheless, their mechanism of action is clear. Therefore, new strategies in toxicological research are needed for efficient screening for adverse effects of pesticides on complex living systems. Biomarkers can be employed to identify causal associations and to make better quantitative and qualitative estimates of those associations at relevant levels of exposure. This will enable us to deepen our understanding of mechanism behind their carcinogenic potential. Deciphering the associations between pesticide exposure and cancer, following toxicoproteomics application, will be useful in the development of potential predictive biomarkers of pesticide induced carcinogenicity. Therefore, the thrust of this article was to review the risk of cancer due to pesticide exposure and significant toxicoproteomic-based studies conducted so far, to identify the novel molecules as possible biomarkers for cancer following pesticide exposure.