Solan Megan E, Park Jin-Ah
Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States.
Front Toxicol. 2024 Jul 18;6:1423449. doi: 10.3389/ftox.2024.1423449. eCollection 2024.
Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a broad class of synthetic compounds widely used in commercial applications. The persistent nature of PFAS in the environment has earned them the epithet "forever chemicals." Concerns arise from widespread exposure to PFAS from occupational, household, and environmental sources. This widespread use of PFAS is particularly concerning, as emerging epidemiological evidence highlights their adverse effects on lung health. Such adverse impacts include impaired fetal lung development, reduced immune function in children, and potential links to lung cancer. Both and studies illuminate potential mechanisms underlying such adverse health outcomes subsequent to PFAS inhalation exposure, which may include immunomodulation, oxidative stress, and disruptions to epithelial barriers. However, evidence-based information focusing on the mechanisms of PFAS-mediated lung injury is lacking. Additionally, the discrepancies between data collected from animal and epidemiological studies highlight the need for improved approaches to better understand the toxicity results of PFAS exposure. To address these gaps, we recommend leveraging route-to-route extrapolation for risk assessment, prioritizing research on understudied PFAS, and adopting physiologically relevant, high-throughput approaches. These strategies are aimed at enhancing our understanding of PFAS inhalation effects, aiding in more informed risk management decisions. In this review, we summarize the current literature on PFAS exposure, emphasizing its adverse effects on lung health, particularly through inhalation. We then discuss the current knowledge on mechanisms underlying tissue- and cellular-level adverse outcomes caused by PFAS.
全氟和多氟烷基物质（PFAS）是一类广泛应用于商业领域的合成化合物。PFAS在环境中的持久性使其获得了“永久化学物质”的称号。人们对职业、家庭和环境来源的PFAS广泛暴露表示担忧。PFAS的这种广泛使用尤其令人担忧，因为新出现的流行病学证据凸显了它们对肺部健康的不利影响。这些不利影响包括胎儿肺部发育受损、儿童免疫功能下降以及与肺癌的潜在联系。动物实验和流行病学研究都揭示了PFAS吸入暴露后导致这些不良健康后果的潜在机制，这可能包括免疫调节、氧化应激以及对上皮屏障的破坏。然而，缺乏关于PFAS介导的肺损伤机制的循证信息。此外，动物研究和流行病学研究收集的数据之间的差异凸显了需要改进方法，以更好地理解PFAS暴露的毒性结果。为了填补这些空白，我们建议利用从一种暴露途径到另一种暴露途径的外推法进行风险评估，优先研究研究较少的PFAS，并采用生理相关的高通量方法。这些策略旨在加强我们对PFAS吸入影响的理解，有助于做出更明智的风险管理决策。在本综述中，我们总结了关于PFAS暴露的现有文献，强调其对肺部健康的不利影响，特别是通过吸入途径。然后，我们讨论了目前关于PFAS导致组织和细胞水平不良后果的机制的认识。
