Fischer Florian, Temml Veronika, Schuster Daniela
Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Institute of Pharmacy and Research and Innovation Center for Regenerative Medicine and Novel Therapies, Paracelsus Medical University, 5020 Salzburg, Austria.
Molecules. 2025 May 16;30(10):2183. doi: 10.3390/molecules30102183.
Pesticides are essential in agriculture for protecting crops and boosting productivity, but their widespread use may pose significant health risks. Farmworkers face direct exposure through skin contact and inhalation, which may lead to hormonal imbalances, neurological disorders, and elevated cancer risks. Moreover, pesticide residues in food and water may affect surrounding communities. One of the lesser investigated issues is immunotoxicity, mostly because the chronic effects of compound exposure are very complex to study. As a case study, this work utilized pharmacophore modeling and virtual screening to identify pesticides that may inhibit Janus kinases (JAK1, JAK2, JAK3) and tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2), which are pivotal in immune response regulation, and are associated with cancer development and increased infection susceptibility. We identified 64 potential pesticide candidates, 22 of which have previously been detected in the human body, as confirmed by the Human Metabolome Database. These results underscore the critical need for further research into potential immunotoxic and chronic impacts of the respective pesticides on human health.
农药在农业中对于保护作物和提高生产力至关重要,但其广泛使用可能带来重大健康风险。农场工人通过皮肤接触和吸入面临直接暴露,这可能导致激素失衡、神经紊乱以及癌症风险升高。此外,食品和水中的农药残留可能影响周边社区。免疫毒性是较少被研究的问题之一,主要是因为化合物暴露的慢性影响研究起来非常复杂。作为一个案例研究,这项工作利用药效团建模和虚拟筛选来识别可能抑制Janus激酶(JAK1、JAK2、JAK3)和酪氨酸激酶2(TYK2)的农药,这些激酶在免疫反应调节中起关键作用,并且与癌症发展和感染易感性增加有关。我们确定了64种潜在的农药候选物,其中22种先前已在人体中被检测到,这由人类代谢组数据库证实。这些结果强调了迫切需要进一步研究各自农药对人类健康的潜在免疫毒性和慢性影响。