Prenatal Exposure to Perfluoroalkyl Substances Associated With Increased Susceptibility to Liver Injury in Children

• DOI: 10.1002/hep.31483
• Publication Date: 2020-08-01T14:09:12Z
• Authors: Nikos Stratakis; David V. Conti; Ran Jin; Katerina Margetaki; Damaskini Valvi; Alexandros P. Siskos; Léa Maitre; Erika Garcia; Nerea Varo; Yinqi Zhao; Theano Roumeliotaki; Marina Vafeiadi; Jose Urquiza; Silvia Fernández‐...; Barbara Heude; Xavier Basagana; Maribel Casas; Serena Fossati; Regina Gražulevič...; Sandra Andrušaitytė; Karan Uppal; Rosemary R.C. McE...; Eleni Papadopoulou; Oliver Robinson; Line Småstuen Haug; John Wright; Miriam B. Vos; Hector C. Keun; Martine Vrijheid; Kiros T. Berhane; Rob McConnell; Lida Chatzi
• Keywords: Perfluorooctane; Perfluorooctanoic acid; Interquartile range

Background and Aims Per‐ polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are widespread persistent pollutants that have been shown to hepatotoxic effects in animal models. However, human evidence is scarce. We evaluated how prenatal exposure PFAS associates with established serum biomarkers of liver injury alterations metabolome children. Approach Results used data from 1,105 mothers their children (median age, 8.2 years; interquartile range, 6.6‐9.1) the European Human Early‐Life Exposome cohort (consisting six existing population‐based birth cohorts France, Greece, Lithuania, Norway, Spain, United Kingdom). measured concentrations perfluorooctane sulfonate, perfluorooctanoate, perfluorononanoate, perfluorohexane perfluoroundecanoate maternal blood. assessed alanine aminotransferase, aspartate gamma‐glutamyltransferase child serum. Using Bayesian kernel machine regression, we found higher during pregnancy was associated enzyme levels also metabolomics through a targeted assay significant perturbations amino acid glycerophospholipid metabolism PFAS. A latent variable analysis identified profile at high risk (odds ratio, 1.56; 95% confidence interval, 1.21‐1.92) characterized by increased branched‐chain acids (valine, leucine, isoleucine), aromatic (tryptophan phenylalanine), glycerophospholipids (phosphatidylcholine [PC] aa C36:1 Lyso‐PC C18:1). Conclusions Developmental can contribute pediatric injury.