Research

Xenoestrogenic activity in blood of European and Inuit populations

Eva C Bonefeld-Jorgensen¹ , Philip S Hjelmborg¹ , Thayaline S Reinert¹ , Birgitte S Andersen¹ , Vladimir Lesovoy² , Christian H Lindh³ , Lars Hagmar³ , Aleksander Giwercman⁴ , Mogens Erlandsen⁵ , Gian-Carlo Manicardi⁶ , Marcello Spanò⁷ , Gunnar Toft⁸ and Jens Peter Bonde⁸

¹Unit of Cellular and Molecular Toxicology, Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Institute of Public Health, Vennelyst Boulevard 6, Build. 1260, University of Aarhus, DK-8000 Aarhus, Denmark

²Regional Clynical Center of Urology and Nephrology, Kharkiv, Ukraine

³Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University Hospital, SE-22185 Lund, Sweden

⁴Scanian Fertility Centre, Malmö University Hospital, SE-20502 Malmö, Sweden

⁵Department of Biostatistics, Institute of Public Health, University of Aarhus, Vennelyst Boulevard 6, Build. 1260, DK-8000 Aarhus, Denmark

⁶Laboratory of Genetics, Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Viale Kennedy 17, I-42100 Reggio Emilia, Italy

⁷Section of Toxicology and Biomedical Sciences, BIOTEC-MED, ENEA Casaccia, Via Anguillarese 301, I-00060 Rome, Italy

⁸Department of Occupational Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Noerrebrogade 44, Build.2C, DK-8000 Aarhus, Denmark

author email corresponding author email

Environmental Health: A Global Access Science Source 2006, 5:12doi:10.1186/1476-069X-5-12

Published:	5 May 2006

Abstract

Background

Human exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) is ubiquitous and found in all individuals. Studies have documented endocrine disrupting effects and impact on reproduction. The aim of the present study was to compare the level of xenoestrogenic activity in serum of groups with varying POP exposure, and to evaluate correlations to the POP biomarkers, 2,2',4,4',5,5'-hexachlorobiphenyl (CB-153) and 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis (p-chlorophenyl)-ethylene (p,p'-DDE).

Methods

The study included 358 men: Greenlandic Inuit's, Swedish fishermen, and Warsaw (Poland) and Kharkiv (Ukraine) inhabitants. Xenoestrogenicity of serum extracts alone (XER) and XER competitive (XERcomp) effect on 17β-estradiol induced estrogen receptor (ER) transactivity were assessed in the hormone free, lipophilic serum fraction containing the POPs using the MVLN human breast cancer cell line.

Results

No agonistic XER activity was exhibited for Inuit serum samples, while 12 – 24% of the European samples had detectable agonistic XER activity. On the contrary, 71% of Inuit serum samples antagonized XERcomp compared to 7 – 30 % in the other regions. XER and XERcomp were not or weakly correlated to the two POP markers. XER activity of Inuit samples was negatively associated to levels of CB-153 and p,p'-DDE. For the Warsaw group a positive and negative correlation between XER and p,p'-DDE and estradiol equivalence level and CB-153 levels was found.

Conclusion

No strong consistent association between xenoestrogenic net activity and the two POP markers was found. The results showed that the selected POP markers alone can not predict the integrated xenoestrogenic serum activity. Correlations to the POP markers were found at the extreme edge; the Inuit's and Warsaw study groups eliciting high frequency of samples with ER antagonistic and agonistic activity, respectively. We suggest that the variation in xenoestrogenic serum activity reflects differences in POP exposure mixture, genetic factors and/or life style factors.