More microplastics in 5 types of cancerous tissue than in non-cancerous tissue
Quantitative characterization of microplastics in paired tumor and adjacent normal tissues across five human cancers
Journal of Environmental Sciences Oct 2026 10.1016/j.jes.2026.105821
Microplastics (MPs) are emerging environmental contaminants of growing health concern, yet their accumulation in human solid tumors remains poorly characterized. We conducted a paired tissue study of 25 patients undergoing surgical resection for lung, breast, colorectal, liver, and gastric cancers.
Fifty paired tumor tissues (TT) and adjacent normal tissues (NT) were collected under strict plastic-free protocols and analyzed by pyrolysis–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) targeting 11 polymers. Paired TT-NT differences were assessed, while cancer-type patterns and associations with clinical biomarkers were explored.
MPs were detected in all samples, with six polymers identified: polyethylene (PE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP), polyadiohexylenediamine (PA66), and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA).
Total MP concentrations were significantly higher in TT than NT (195.7 vs. 144.5 μg/g, P < 0.001), driven mainly by higher PS, PP, and PVC levels (all P < 0.05), whereas PE showed no tumor–normal difference. PA66 and PMMA were detected only in TT above the method detection limits.
MP burden and composition varied markedly across cancer types, with the highest mean tumor concentration in breast cancer (288.4 μg/g), followed by lung (193.8 μg/g), colorectal (191.2 μg/g), liver (168.1 μg/g), and gastric cancers (137.0 μg/g). Moderate positive correlations were observed between total MP burden and ferritin (r = 0.58), and between PP or PE and CA125. MPs are consistently detectable and significantly enriched in tumor tissues, with marked cancer-type–specific heterogeneity in polymer profiles. These findings provide baseline tissue-level evidence of MP accumulation in solid tumors and underscore the need for larger, longitudinal, and mechanistic studies.