Dataset associated with the paper "Thyroid Cancer and Endocrine Disruptive Chemicals: A Case-Control Study on Per-fluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) and Other Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)"

Abstract Objective: To evaluate the possible association between some endocrine disruptive chemicals and thyroid cancer (TC) in an Italian case-control cohort. Methods: We enrolled 112 TC patients and 112 sex- and age-matched controls without known thyroid diseases. Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), poly-chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (4,4'-DDT, and 4,4'-DDE) were measured in the serum by liquid or gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Unconditional logistic regression, Bayesan Kernel Machine Regression and Weighted Quantile Sum models were used to estimate the association between TC and pollutants' levels, considered individually or as mixture. BRAFV600E mutation was assessed by standard methods. Results: The detection of perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA) was positively correlated to TC (OR= 2.03, 95% CI 1.10-3.75, p=0.02), while a negative association was found with perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS) levels (OR=0.63, 95% CI 0.41-0.98, p=0.04). Moreover, perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) was positively associated with the presence of thyroiditis, while PFHxS and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) with higher levels of pre-surgical Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone (TSH). PFHxS, PFOS, PFNA and PFDA were correlated with less aggressive TC, while poly-chlorinated biphenyls (PCB-105 and PCB-118) with larger and more aggressive tumours. Statistical models showed a negative association between pollutants' mixture and TC. BRAFV600E mutations resulted associated with PCB-153, PCB-138 and PCB-180. Conclusions: Our study suggests, for the first time in a case-control population, that exposure to some PFAS and PCBs associates with TC and some clinical and molecular features. On the contrary, an inverse correlation was found with both PFHxS and pollutants' mixture, likely due to a potential reverse causality. Dataset associated with the paper "Thyroid Cancer and Endocrine Disruptive Chemicals: A Case-Control Study on Per-fluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) and Other Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)". This set of raw data cannot be publicly available as including sensitive information, but might be made available to interested researchers upon reasonable request. Please, forward you request to [e-mail]