Carcinogenesis, Vol. 20, No. 8, 1653-1654,
August 1999
© 1999 Oxford University Press
Letters To The Editor |
Re: Felix,K., Lin,S., Bornkamm,G.W. and Janz,S. (1998) Tetravinyl-tetramethylcyclo-tetrasiloxane (tetravinyl D4) is a mutagen in Rat2
lacI fibroblasts. Carcinogenesis, 19, 315–320
Department of Surgery, Division of Emergency Medicine and Trauma, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, CO 80210-5817, USA
Dear Sir,
I read with interest the research findings of Dr Felix and coworkers (1) regarding the possible mutagenicity of tetravinyl D4. Because of the possible concerns this article might raise among women who have silicone breast implants, several issues deserve comment.
There is no evidence that tetravinyl D4 is found in silicone gel
The authors cite three articles by a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance group in support of the proposition that vinylated low molecular weight compounds such as tetravinyl D4 are found within the gel matrix. However, these articles contain no evidence for the presence of tetravinyl D4 or other such compounds within silicone gel (2,3), and they do not conclude that they are present.
The vinyl groups involved in the crosslinking of the linear polymers as Felix et al. accurately point out, are located randomly along the polymer chains. To create tetravinyl D4, there must be four
D4, the most important and relevant of the six materials tested, was clearly not mutagenic
The use of 
-cyclodextrin to create cellular interactions with hydrophobic silicone compounds that would not otherwise occur is an artificial model that is unlikely to be biologically relevant
The mouse plasmacytoma model, which was the impetus for this research, has little relevance to the use of silicone gel as a biomedical device in humans
References