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Review
. 2020 Aug 11;21(16):5761.
doi: 10.3390/ijms21165761.

Potential Mechanisms of Bisphenol A (BPA) Contributing to Human Disease

Ilaria Cimmino  1 , Francesca Fiory  1 , Giuseppe Perruolo  1 , Claudia Miele  1 , Francesco Beguinot  1 , Pietro Formisano  1 , Francesco Oriente  1
Affiliations
Review

Potential Mechanisms of Bisphenol A (BPA) Contributing to Human Disease

Ilaria Cimmino et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Bisphenol A (BPA) is an organic synthetic compound serving as a monomer to produce polycarbonate plastic, widely used in the packaging for food and drinks, medical devices, thermal paper, and dental materials. BPA can contaminate food, beverage, air, and soil. It accumulates in several human tissues and organs and is potentially harmful to human health through different molecular mechanisms. Due to its hormone-like properties, BPA may bind to estrogen receptors, thereby affecting both body weight and tumorigenesis. BPA may also affect metabolism and cancer progression, by interacting with GPR30, and may impair male reproductive function, by binding to androgen receptors. Several transcription factors, including PPARγ, C/EBP, Nrf2, HOX, and HAND2, are involved in BPA action on fat and liver homeostasis, the cardiovascular system, and cancer. Finally, epigenetic changes, such as DNA methylation, histones modification, and changes in microRNAs expression contribute to BPA pathological effects. This review aims to provide an extensive and comprehensive analysis of the most recent evidence about the potential mechanisms by which BPA affects human health.

Keywords: bisphenol A; cancer; epigenetics; metabolism; receptors; transcription factors.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Potential BPA source and targets. BPA exposure sources include ingestion, maternofetal transmission, inhalation, skin, and eye contact. Once in the human body, BPA can negatively affect several targets, such as the thyroid, adipose tissue, liver, heart, female, and male reproductive apparatus. Images used to schematically represent anatomic parts and physiologic events were derived from openclipart.org and publicdomainvectors.org.
Figure 2
Figure 2
A potential integrative model of BPA molecular mechanisms. BPA exerts its deleterious effects on the cardiovascular system, metabolism, cancer, and immune and reproductive systems, by activating specific receptors, inducing transcription factors, and through epigenetic modifications.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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