Endocrine-disrupting industrial chemicals

Endocrine-disrupting industrial chemicals (EDCs) are released into the environment and interfere with normal hormonal processes. Many researchers hypothesize that inadvertent and untimely exposure to these EDCs during critical periods of development, i.e., early postnatal or in utero, may adversely affect the reproductive and general health, growth, and development in both wildlife and humans.Recently, it was reported that some estrogenic chemicals can cause biological effects at levels below those normally found safe.
The origins of the endocrine disrupter hypothesis may be traced to reports on adolescent daughters born to women who had taken the highly potent synthetic estrogen diethylstilbestrol (DES) during pregnancy. The negative consequences of this practice began to emerge when studies reported that these daughters developed a wide range of reproductive tract abnormalities, including a rare form of vaginal cancer, vaginal adenocarcinoma, and uterine malformations, including hypoplasia.
Thus, the scope of our research is to understand mechanisims leading to these effects by (1) investigating estrogen receptors expression and functions, (2) recognizing and characterizing genes and epigenetic effects controlling susceptibility to EDCs and (3) understanding the mechanisms of action for known EDCs at cellular and molecular levels.