Superfund Research Program
February 2023
Researchers at the TAMU SRP Center showed that advancements in human liver cell-based experiments can reduce uncertainties when assessing the health risk of contaminants.
The team studied trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE), chemicals used in dry cleaning and metal degreasing that are detected widely at Superfund sites, making them high priorities for risk assessment. Prior studies have shown that TCE and PCE can cause liver cancer, but the extent of their metabolism in the body remained unclear.
The researchers worked to resolve these uncertainties using human, rat, and mouse liver cells in special platforms called micropatterned cocultures (MPCCs), which surround the liver cells with connective tissue cells to form a structurally stable system that mimics conditions in the human body. They then exposed the cells to TCE and PCE and measured the formation of metabolites, or substances that form from the breakdown of chemicals in the body.
After comparing results from the MPCC liver models to conventional cell models, as well as to results of previous studies, the team found that their MPCC model was the closest match to metabolism estimates of living organisms. They explained that their data may be used to inform the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s toxicity assessments.
According to the authors, these findings suggest that that novel engineered liver platforms, like MPCCs, can provide relevant estimates of metabolic rates for toxic chemicals, improving efforts to quantify their health effects.
To learn more, please refer to the following sources:- Valdiviezo A, Brown GE, Michell AR, Trinconi CM, Bodke VV, Khetani SR, Luo Y, Chiu WA, Rusyn I. 2022. Reanalysis of trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene metabolism to glutathione conjugates using human, rat, and mouse liver in vitro models to improve precision in risk characterization. Environ Health Perspect 130(11):117009. doi:10.1289/EHP12006 PMID:36445294 PMCID:PMC9707501