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A systematic review of metabolomics biomarkers for Bisphenol A exposure

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Abstract

Introduction

Bisphenol A (BPA), 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) propane, a common industrial chemical which has extremely huge production worldwide, is ubiquitous in the environment. Human have high risk of exposing to BPA and the health problems caused by BPA exposure have aroused public concern. However, the biomarkers for BPA exposure are lacking. As a rapidly developing subject, metabolomics has accumulated a large amount of valuable data in various fields. The secondary application of published metabolomics data could be a very promising field for generating novel biomarkers whilst further understanding of toxicity mechanisms.

Objectives

To summarize the published literature on the use of metabolomics as a tool to study BPA exposure and provide a systematic perspectives of current research on biomarkers screening of BPA exposure.

Methods

We conducted a systematic search of MEDLINE (PubMed) up to the end of June 25, 2017 with the key term combinations of ‘metabolomics’, ‘metabonomics’, ‘mass spectrometry’, ‘nuclear magnetic spectroscopy’, ‘metabolic profiling’ and ‘amino acid profile’ combined with ‘BPA exposure’. Additional articles were identified through searching the reference lists from included studies.

Results

This systematic review included 15 articles. Intermediates of glycolysis, Krebs cycle, β oxidation of long chain fatty acids, pentose phosphate pathway, nucleoside metabolism, branched chain amino acid metabolism, aromatic amino acids metabolism, sulfur-containing amino acids metabolism were significantly changed after BPA exposure, suggesting BPA had a highly complex toxic effects on organism which was consistent with existing studies. The biomarkers most consistently associated with BPA exposure were lactate and choline.

Conclusion

Existing metabolomics studies of BPA exposure present heterogeneous findings regarding metabolite profile characteristics. We need more evidence from target metabolomics and epidemiological studies to further examine the reliability of these biomarkers which link to low, environmentally relevant, exposure of BPA in human body.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Applied Basic Research Program of Wuhan Science and Technology Bureau (2016010101010003); and the independent innovation research fund, HUST (2017KFYXJJ069).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computer Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, People’s Republic of China

    Mu Wang, Fang Liu & Songfeng Lu

  2. Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education & Ministry of Environmental Protection, and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubation), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, People’s Republic of China

    Mu Wang, Wei Xia, Yuanyuan Li & Shunqing Xu

  3. School of Public Health, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan, People’s Republic of China

    Ouyan Rang

  4. School of Computer and Information Technology, Xinyang Normal University, Xinyang, Henan, People’s Republic of China

    Yu Zhang

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  1. Mu Wang
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  2. Ouyan Rang
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  3. Fang Liu
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  4. Wei Xia
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  5. Yuanyuan Li
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  6. Yu Zhang
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  7. Songfeng Lu
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Correspondence to Songfeng Lu or Shunqing Xu.

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This review was conducted in accordance with ethical standards.

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Wang, M., Rang, O., Liu, F. et al. A systematic review of metabolomics biomarkers for Bisphenol A exposure. Metabolomics 14, 45 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11306-018-1342-z

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