On January 8, 2014 the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany published a press release reporting on a study published in the peer-reviewed scientific Journal of Medicinal Chemistry on November 22, 2013, which found bisphenol A (BPA) to impair the function of growth related proteins (Schöpel et al. 2013). According to the findings, BPA impedes the exchange of guanosine diphosphate (GDP) for guanosine triphosphate (GTP), molecules necessary for cell signaling. Thereby, BPA induced cell death. The researchers from the Ruhr University and the University of Wuppertal, both Germany, suggest that BPA may thus also be a novel candidate for the treatment of tumors. Julia Weiler, author of the press release, points out that the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (Bundesinstitut für Risikoforschung), the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the US-American Breast Cancer Foundation have indicated their concerns over BPA, but that a final assessment of BPA based plastics is still to be awaited. The researchers recommend a restriction of BPA application in food contact containers.

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Schöpel, M. et al. (2013). “Bisphenol A Binds to Ras Proteins and Competes with Guanine Nucleotide Exchange: Implications for GTPase-Selective Antagonists.Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (published online November 22, 2013).

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