EDC Science Weekly, Feb. 20-26, 2026

A summary of articles on endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) added to PubMed this week.

Please note that there is something wrong with PubMed today– some links to articles are not working (I have submitted a request to the help desk). If you click on an article the newsletter below and the link isn’t working, try searching the title in Google Scholar and you should find it there.

Contents: Events, Methods/Tools/Screening, Commentaries, Reviews/Meta-Analyses, Human Health Studies, Laboratory Studies, Exposure/Environment Studies

Events

Feb. 26 webinar (today!): Plastic chemicals, climate, and health: Impacts across the lifecycle [CHE-Alaska]

Feb. 27 application due date for the Endocrine Society’s Kaiser-Goldberg Research Fellowship program.

Mar. 5 webinar: Chemical Recycling of Plastics: Health concerns & technological limits [CHE]

Mar. 12 webinar: How to get plastic out of student meals [Beyond Plastics]

May 6: ECHO Symposium: Translating Science to Action (hybrid) [NIH]

June 10: TSCA Reform: 10 years later (hybrid) [Environmental Law Institute]

June 28 – July 3: New and emerging threats, approaches, and mitigation strategies for environmental endocrine disruptors [Gordon Research Conference] and accompanying Gordon Research Seminar June 27 – 28, Harnessing interdisciplinary evidence for endocrine disruption.

Oct. 12-16, conference: MICRO 2026: Plastic pollution from macro to nano [in Cadiz, Spain]

Methods/Tools/Screening

Redefining the gold standard and recommendations to accelerate the adoption of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) in support of the Three Rs.

Multi-task deep learning models for mechanism-based prediction of developmental and reproductive toxicity (DART) using ToxCast bioassays.

Comparison of physiologically based pharmacokinetic modeling platforms for developmental neurotoxicity in vitro to in vivo extrapolation.

Brain organoids in environmental neurotoxicology: applications, mechanisms, and future perspectives.

ParetoGen: Generative Machine Learning Models To Push the Pareto Optimal Frontier of Functionality-Hazard Trade-offs in Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances Green Alternative Designs.

Evaluating machine learning models for predicting pesticide toxicity to honey bees.

Chemometric modelling for eco-toxicological risk assessment of diverse chemicals towards mammalian species.

Commentaries

The age of animal experiments is waning. Where will science go next? [News item in Nature]

What Are Microplastics? [JAMA patient page]

The Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments Fellowship.

Editorial for the Special Issue “Micro-and nanoplastics in soil: Insights and challenges”. [Chemosphere]

Reviews/Meta-Analyses

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Environmental Chemicals and Maternal Depression During and After Pregnancy: a Scoping Review.

Potential association between endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and gynecomastia: a systematic review based on partial experimental evidence

The Impact of Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals on Embryonic Recurrent Implantation Failure: A Narrative Review.

Role of constitutive androstane receptor in developmental toxicology: linking chemical exposure, nutrition, and disease susceptibility.

Bisphenols

Bisphenol A and its analogues in thyroid diseases: Evidence from dysfunction, autoimmunity, and cancer.

Persistent Organic Pollutants: PCBs, Dioxin, OCPs

Biota occurrence, accumulation, disposition and toxic effect of chlorinated paraffins.

PFAS

Biological pathways of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS): A critical review of cellular and molecular toxicity mechanisms.

Non-targeted screening of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances: Advanced methods, challenges, and environmental health.

Pesticides

The association between organophosphate pesticide residue exposure and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: A systematic review.

Metals/Metalloids

Unravelling lead-induced toxicity in mammals: the role of oxidative stress and apoptosis and their modulation by emerging therapeutic strategies.

Plastics/Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Impact of microplastics and nanoplastics on cardiovascular health.

A comprehensive review on microplastics: Their presence in surface and ground water, environmental distribution, and impact on human and aquatic systems.

Micro- and Nanoplastics as a Potential Risk Factor for Stroke: A Systematic Review.

Effects of Microplastics and Nanoplastics on the Kidneys.

Microplastic toxicity: mechanisms, assessment methods, and future research directions.

Mapping the evidence on the role and impact of plastics in the context of health products and their packaging: A scoping review.

Air Pollution

Ambient Air Pollution and Cardiometabolic Health in the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study: A Scoping Review of Two Decades of Evidence.

Pharmaceuticals/Personal Care Products

Systematic evidence map on the association between exposure to personal care products and fetal growth.

Miscellaneous

Occurrence, Transformation, and Toxicity of Tire-Derived Chemicals 6PPD and 6PPD-q in the Environment.

Human Health Studies

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Serum PCBs, OCPs, PBDEs and PCAs: Associations with metabolic syndrome risk factors in the Flemish Gut Flora Project cohort.

Environmental toxicant exposure and diabetes risk: An exposome-wide association study integrating mixture effects and molecular mechanisms.

Individual and co-exposure to perchlorate, nitrate, and thiocyanate and insulin resistance in the U.S population: A dominant role of perchlorate.

Bisphenols/Phthalates/Parabens

Prenatal phthalate and bisphenol exposure and gestational diabetes mellitus: a birth cohort study in New York City.

Evaluation of Plasticiser Levels, Phthalates and Bisphenols in Bahraini Subjects with and Without Type-2 Diabetes.

Platelet mitochondrial DNA methylation mediates the association of bisphenol, phthalate, and paraben exposures with type 2 diabetes mellitus: An exploratory nested case-control study.

Sex-specific associations between phthalate exposure and stroke risk: a cross-sectional study integrating molecular mechanisms of vascular dysfunction.

Persistent Organic Pollutants: PCBs, Dioxin, OCPs

The legacy of Agent Orange: Prenatal exposure to dioxin and human capital formation.

Childhood exposure to multiple persistent organic pollutants and midlife cognitive function.

Prenatal exposure to organochlorine pesticides and early childhood neurodevelopment: A prospective birth cohort study.

PFAS

Long-Term Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances Exposure and Kidney Function in Taiwanese Adolescents and Young Adults: A 10-Year Prospective Cohort Study.

Increasing PFAS concentrations in human serum correlate with elevated blood lipid levels.

Pesticides

Association between prenatal exposure to residential pyrethroid insecticides and congenital hypothyroidism using propensity score matching.

Integrated Biomonitoring of Organophosphate Mixtures Reveals Food-Driven Exposure and Hormetic Oxidative Responses in Urban Adults.

Metals/Metalloids

Effects of maternal arsenic exposure on birth outcomes using harmonized data across three birth cohorts.

A case report of arsenic-induced peripheral neuropathy misdiagnosed as Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Impact of a prenatal exposure mixture of metals on DNA methylation-derived cell-type composition in cord blood.

Association between serum metal exposure in early pregnancy and preterm birth: Mediation by inflammatory blood cell parameters.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Mapping the hidden journey of microplastics: Multi-organ deposition patterns and organ-specific health risks revealed by AI-driven analysis.

Air Pollution

Prenatal wildfire smoke exposure and adverse neonatal outcomes in a high-risk cohort of pregnant women with asthma.

Pharmaceuticals/Personal Care Products

Foam Cushing: endocrine disruption from excessive hygiene zeal. [case study]

Laboratory Studies

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Ecotoxicological Insights From Ex Vivo Exposure of Whole Blood to PFOS and Glyphosate: Oxidative Stress and Immune Disruption.

The Disruption of Thyroid Gland Homeostasis by the Lead and Polychlorinated-Biphenyls Mixture in Rats.

Bisphenols

Astaxanthin attenuates bisphenol A-induced testicular toxicity in Wistar rats by reducing apoptosis and fibrosis via Bax/Bcl-2 balance and collagen gene expression.

Integrative bioinformatics, single-cell and experimental evidence for a BPA-m6A-apoptosis axis in granulosa cell dysfunction in polycystic ovary syndrome.

Placental Small Extracellular Vesicles as Modulators of Bisphenol A-Induced Oxidative Stress and Mitochondrial Activation in Human Astrocytoma Cells (U-373 MG).

Acute and sub-chronic exposure to bisphenol AF induces cardiac inflammatory response in zebrafish through lncRNA/circRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory networks.

Phthalates

Exploratory assessment of preconception phthalate exposure on pregnancy and offspring health outcomes in mice.

Acute exposure to Diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) and Diisononyl phthalate (DiNP) impacts pituitary hormones and inflammatory markers, suggesting altered reproductive aging in adult female mice.

Integrated network toxicology, transcriptomics and metabolomics to elucidate mechanism of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate inducing reproductive toxicity in laying hens.

Multi-scale systems toxicology defines a KLF5-centered adverse outcome pathway linking DEHP exposure to pancreatic cancer progression and signaling programs relevant to therapy tolerance.

Diisobutyl phthalate alters estradiol synthesis and expression of genes associated with epigenetic regulation and inflammation in bovine granulosa cells.

Integrative Multi‐Omics Identifies S100A4 as a Translational Hub Linking Environmental Bis(2‐Ethylhexyl) Phthalate (DEHP) Exposure to Glioblastoma Risk.

PFAS

Recovery from Chronic PFAS Exposure Can Reverse Chemotherapy Resistance and Mitochondrial Alterations in Ovarian Cancer Cells.

Cl-PFESA disrupts thyroid hormone secretion in human thyrocytes and nonmonotonic effects of iodide co-exposure.

Effects of Prenatal Exposure to Hexafluoropropylene Oxide Dimer Acid on Rat and Offspring Mammary Gland Development and Associated Hormone Levels.

Multi-level evidence reveals KCTD15 and FAM19A2 as key targets in PFOA/PFOS-mediated PCOS pathogenesis.

Effects of Perfluorobutane Sulfonate (PFBS) on Development and Bone Mineralization in Zebrafish Larvae.

Quantitative acetylomic analysis reveals a key role of acetylation site 1168K in carbamoyl-phosphate synthase 1 (CPS1) following exposure to PFOA and PFO4DA in mouse liver.

PPAR-gamma regulates PFAS-mediated proinflammatory cytokines in lung epithelial cells.

Toxicogenomic Characterization of Perfluorooctanoic Acid-Associated Bladder Carcinogenesis.

Early F-53B Exposure Induces Autism Spectrum Disorder-like Hypomyelination and Oligodendrocytes-Derived Exosomal Protein-Dependent Axonal Energy Imbalance.

Flame Retardants

Isopropylated phenyl phosphate, an organophosphorus flame retardant, induces depressive- and anxiety-like behaviors in mice.

Tris(2,4-di-tert-butylphenyl) phosphate induces cardiac injury in juvenile mice by disrupting energy homeostasis: Focus on mitochondrial impairment.

Comparative toxicity of flame retardants on reproduction, antioxidant system, and energy metabolism of brackish water flea Diaphanosoma celebensis.

Environmentally relevant levels of BDE-209 induces proteomic and phosphoproteomic reprogramming in murine melanoma cells.

Pesticides

Immune regulation and cellular crosstalk drive non-fibrotic lung remodeling in pre-metamorphic frogs exposed to paraquat.

Effects of Pharmacological and Agrochemical Endocrine Disruptors on Human Sperm Mitochondrial Respiration: Evidence from Ex Vivo Bioenergetic Profiling.

Prenatal Exposure to the Fungicide Flutolanil Induces Developmental and Hepatic Toxicity in Pregnant Rats and Their Fetuses: Insights from In Vivo and In Silico Studies and the Protective Role of Chlorella vulgaris.

Pubertal exposure to glyphosate-based herbicide aggravates diet-induced steatosis and hormonal dysregulation in adult mice.

Jojoba Oil Protects against Chlorpyrifos-Induced Testicular Toxicity by Modulating Notch1/Jagged1-Inflammatory Axis and Oxidative Stress.

Metals/Metalloids

Prenatal cadmium exposure and male infertility in mice: A multi-generational mechanistic study.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

The presence of microplastics in human semen and the protective role of nicotinamide mononucleotide against polystyrene nanoplastics-induced reproductive and early embryonic toxicity.

Assessing the embryotoxicity of polypropylene micro- and nanoplastics generated through simulated environmental weathering in zebrafish (Danio rerio).

Impact of polystyrene microplastic exposure at low doses on male fertility: an experimental study in rats.

Integrative network toxicology and molecular docking preliminarily explore the potential role of polystyrene microplastics in childhood obesity.

Co-exposure to Microplastics and Tire Particles Exacerbates Oxidative Stress and Gut Microbiome Dysbiosis in Zebrafish (Danio rerio).

Effects of acute exposure to polystyrene micro and nanoplastics, alone and in combination with the organophosphorus pesticide glyphosate, on the central nervous system of male and female rats.

Gut-ovary axis mediated synergistic reproductive toxicity of polystyrene nanoplastics and perfluorobutanoic acid co-exposure: pyroptotic signaling and probiotic mitigation.

Polystyrene nanoplastics disrupt iron homeostasis by promoting FPN1 ubiquitination in GC-2spd(ts) cells.

Environmental PET-microplastic exposure and risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: An integrated computational toxicology and multi-omics study.

Co-exposure to polystyrene nanoplastics and hexachlorocyclohexane induces enhanced human sperm toxicity in vitro.

Irisin and Exercise Ameliorate the Polyethylene Microplastics-Induced Blood-Testis Barrier Disruption via PGC-1α Activation and AMPK/Nrf2/HO-1 Signaling.

A new mechanism for ubiquitination in polystyrene nanoplastic-induced spatial cognitive dysfunction through microglial activation-induced apoptosis of neurons.

Air Pollution

Physical exercise alleviates PM_2.5-induced damage by repairing adipose mitochondria dysfunction in mice.

Exposure/Environment Studies

Numerous Chemicals/Mixtures

Migration of phthalates, bisphenols, photoinitiators, and perfluorinated compounds in polyethylene and polystyrene based beverage cups.

Comparative analysis of metals, pesticides, mycotoxins, microbial contaminants and THC potency in illicit and regulated cannabis inflorescences in Canada.

Bisphenols/Phthalates/Parabens

Occurrence and human exposure assessment of bisphenol analogues in various paper products from Korea.

Bisphenols and Phthalates in Bottled Mineral Water: First Evidence of Co-Occurrence, Estrogenic Activity, and Health Risk in Brazil.

Respiratory Support as a Source of Plasticizer Exposure in Premature Neonates.

Temporal (2012-2021), Age, and Sex Trends in Exposure to Bisphenols, Antimicrobials, and Parabens in the Australian General Population.

PFAS

Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances Release from Biosolid-Derived Compost.

Quantitative Associations of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Segmented Hair with Serum and Dust: Potential of Hair as a Retrospective Biomarker.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other contaminants of concern in tribal waters of Montana.

Unraveling the contamination, source and health risk of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in PM_2.5 during winter from a southwestern city in China.

Flame Retardants

Dechlorane Plus in air, dust, hand wipes, and hair at a typical e-waste site in South China: implications for human exposure.

Pesticides

Personal and In-Home Exposures to Airborne Organophosphate Pesticides among Rural Residents of California’s Central Valley.

Microplastics/Nanomaterials

Everyday storage and handling of PET bottled water increase human exposure to nano- and microplastics: Influence of socio-economic factors.

Air Pollution

The risks to human health of air toxics, PM_2.5, and ozone from the 2023 Canadian wildfires.

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This list is not meant to be exhaustive, and generally does not include studies on detection, remediation, or treatment of EDCs. Industry-funded articles are included without notation. Note that journal publication dates may be different from dates added to PubMed. To see the searchable archives, please email me and ask to join the EDC Science Weekly group EDC_research@googlegroups.com. There are searchable archives. Compiled by Sarah Howard of Healthy Environment and Endocrine Disruptor Strategies (HEEDS), a program of Environmental Health Sciences.

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