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Liver cancer is the second leading worldwide cause of cancer-associated mortalities. Hepatocellular carcinoma, which accounts for the majority of liver tumors, ranks fifth among types of human cancer. Well-established risk factors for liver cancer include the hepatitis B and C viruses, aflatoxins, alcohol consumption, and oral contraceptives. Tobacco smoking, androgenic steroids, and diabetes mellitus are suspected risk factors. Current knowledge regarding non-infective occupational risk factors for liver cancer is inconclusive. The relevance of liver disorders to occupational medicine lies in the fact that the majority of chemicals are metabolized in the liver, and toxic metabolites generated via metabolism are the predominant cause of liver damage. However, their non-specific clinical manifestations that are similar in a number of liver diseases make diagnosis difficult. Furthermore, concomitant conditions, such as viral hepatitis and alcohol or drug abuse, may mask liver disorders that result from occupational hepatotoxic agents and block the demonstration of an occupational cause. The identification of environmental agents that result in human cancer is a long and often difficult process. The purpose of the present review is to summarize current knowledge regarding the association of non-infective occupational risk exposure and HCC, to encourage further research and draw attention to this global occupational public health problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) is a carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon for human tissues. Still today it is not fully investigated if BaP can affect negatively the male fertility through the BaP‑DNA adducts production. In the present study, BaP Tetrol I‑1 (TI‑1) and BaP Tetrol II‑2 (TII‑2) BaP‑DNA adducts were investigated in spermatozoa of a Sicilian male population. Semen samples from 86 volunteers in two eastern Sicilian cities (Regalbuto and Melilli) were collected. The quality of semen was evaluated in all samples according to the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. We analyzed BaP‑DNA adducts in extracted sperm cell DNA using the modified high‑performance liquid chromatography‑fluorescence method to detects both Tetrols. Differences between Tetrol levels were assessed by the Wilcoxon signed‑rank test and the Mann‑Whitney U test, as appropriate. Correlation between semen quality parameters and Tetrol concentrations were analyzed using the Spearman's correlation coefficient. Σ(TI‑1+TII‑2) were significantly higher in spermatozoa of volunteers from Regalbuto. Furthermore, a greater dispersion of the levels of adducts was observed in these specimens. TI‑1 adducts were higher than TII‑2 in Melilli samples (95% CI) and TII‑2 were higher than TI‑1 in Regalbuto semen samples (95% CI). A significant inverse correlation between sperm progressive motility and both TI‑1 and TII‑2 adducts was observed. The present study showed that BaP negatively affects male fertility by TI‑1 and TII‑2 DNA‑adduct production. These results suggest that DNA adducts could be used as biomarker to assess BaP exposure by air pollution. Further studies are needed to confirm if these findings could affect male fertility because of the growing impairment of this function observed in recent years.