Integrative in silico analysis of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS)-associated molecular alterations in human cancers: a multi-cancer framework for predicting toxicogenomic disruption
Yanggang Hong, Jiajun Li, Yun Qiu, Yi Wang, Zepeng Du, Zeyu Liu, Yuze Mi, Haigang Geng, S Xin
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) are persistent environmental pollutants with known bioaccumulation potential and growing evidence of an association with cancer risk. However, the molecular mechanisms potentially linking PFAS exposure to carcinogenesis remain poorly understood. This study integrates computational toxicology and bioinformatics approaches to explore how PFAS-related molecular targets and pathways may overlap with those altered in six cancer types: breast carcinoma, kidney renal clear cell carcinoma, liver hepatocellular carcinoma, prostate adenocarcinoma, thyroid cancer, and uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma, all of which have been previously implicated in PFAS-related research. METHODS: Potential protein targets of perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid were predicted using the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database and SwissTargetPrediction. Differentially expressed genes were identified from The Cancer Genome Atlas using the edgeR package. Protein-protein interaction networks were constructed via STRING, and enrichment analysis was performed using Metascape. Molecular docking was conducted using AutoDock to estimate PFAS-protein binding energies. RESULTS: PFAS-related targets were associated with dysregulation of key cancer-related pathways, including cell cycle regulation, inflammatory responses, metabolic reprogramming, and DNA repair. Core targets such as CDC20, CCND1, MYC, BIRC5, PTEN, and IL6 were identified across multiple cancers. Molecular docking predicted strong binding energies between PFAS and several of these targets, supporting their potential relevance in cancer-associated molecular processes. CONCLUSION: This study provides a hypothesis-generating toxicogenomic framework for exploring PFAS-associated molecular alterations across cancer types. These findings highlight potential PFAS-related targets and pathways that warrant further experimental investigation to better understand their relevance to human health and cancer risk.