Emerging perfluorinated contaminants: contribution to the human exposure assessment, to the study of their metabolism and to the characterisation of their toxicological impact. – CONTREPERF

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) are synthetic chemical substances produced and used to exploit their hydrophilic-lipophilic balance through anti-sticking material or surfactant related products. Consequently, consumers from industrialised countries are today in contact with these chemicals in their daily life, through a high number of manufactured products. In parallel, as many other chemicals of entropic origin, PFCs may be released into the environment at each step of their living cycle, and retrieved in various components of the food chain. Food exposure, especially through particular vectors of chemical exposure such as fish, represents a main route of exposure to PFCs for consumers. In parallel, PFCs have been considered as endocrine disruptor chemicals (EDCs). In this case, the problem is not related to acute or sub-acute toxicity issues, but rather to low doses and long term exposure. In this context, the question of potential transfer of PFCs from the mother to the foetus (through the cord blood) and/or newborn (through breastfeeding) is clearly posed. Contreperf is first expected contributing significantly to improve the knowledge related to the human exposure to PFCs, and answer to a clear and current need expressed at the national and international levels. Clearly not designed and positioned as an epidemiological study, the project will not be focused on the general population; otherwise the envisaged collection of a relatively limited volume of data (n=100) would not be adapted for relevant interpretation of tendencies. Conversely, our choice is to focus the study on two main different population sub-groups, one with a supposed high risk of exposure (high fish consumers), and one with a high vulnerability (foetus/newborn). Contreperf is secondly expected contributing significantly to improve the knowledge related to the possible impact of PFCs on human health using four distinct but complementary approaches focused on human liver as a central biological target. Thus, the simultaneous investigation of (1) the biotransformation products of PFOA and PFOS, (2) their global impact in terms of metabolic disruption, (3) their genotoxicity potency, and (4) their transactivation and/or binding capabilities on nuclear receptors, clearly represents another particularly innovative and integrated proposal and positioning in terms of hazard characterisation. In the national context, a first specificity of the present project is to combine several aspects which are in direct relation with the thematic axes pointed out as a priority for the present call. This includes thematic axes 1, 2 & 3. Contreperf clearly deals with several keys words of this call, among them “toxic agents”, “biomarkers”, “endocrine disruptors”, “persistent organic pollutants”, “emerging risks”, “human health”, or “toxicology”. Next, this project is to our knowledge the first and unique one proposing such biomonitoring research work for PFCs, mainly due to the absence of other existing analytical methodologies on the French territory. The present project is unambiguously expected to reinforce the leader position of the partners on these aspects, while the generated knowledge is promised to a significant and high impact level academic valorisation and to be of valuable usefulness for national agencies in charge of risk assessment, public authorities, and finally consumers. In the international context, one may consider this emerging problematic as a really “hot” and current issue, for which a French significant contribution would be more than beneficial to maintain its competitive position in Europe in the field of chemical food safety.