PFAS exposure tied to worse kidney function by bacteria, anti-inflammatory metabolites
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Key takeaways:
- PFAS burden score and several individual PFAS were tied to worse kidney function.
- Joint and metabolite components mediated the effect between PFAS burden score and estimated glomerular filtration rates.
Exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances may be linked to worse kidney function by reduced short-chain fatty acid-producing bacteria and anti-inflammatory metabolites, according to a proof-of-concept analysis.
“Exposure to these forever chemicals could potentially be impacting kidney function through modifying the gut microbiome and some of the metabolites and substances produced by the microbiome,” Hailey E. Hampson, PhD, postdoctoral fellow in population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, told Healio.
Hampson and colleagues conducted a longitudinal cohort study, published in Science of the Total Environment, with 78 young adults (mean age, 20 years; 53% women) aged 17 to 22 years from the Children’s Health Study. Researchers measured seven plasma PFAS and untargeted plasma metabolomics at baseline and characterized baseline gut bacterial abundance using 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing. After 4 years, researchers quantified serum creatinine and cystatin-C concentrations to estimated glomerular filtration rates for each participant.
Overall, 15 gut microbial taxa were associated with at least one PFAS, 77 metabolites were associated with at least one PFAS concentration and 26 metabolites were associated with eGFR.
PFAS burden score and several individual PFAS were tied to worse kidney function, with each increase in PFAS burden score at baseline tied to 2.4% lower serum eGFR concentrations (95% CI, –4.8 to –0.1) and 3.6% higher serum creatinine concentrations (95% CI, 0.4-7) after 4 years.
In high-dimensional mediation analyses with the microbiome and circulating metabolites, a joint component mediated 38% of the effect between PFAS burden score and eGFR. Each increase in PFAS burden score was associated with a 20% decrease (95% CI, –3.2 to 39) in the protective joint component and an increase in the component was associated with a 2.6% (95% CI, 0.5-4.8) increase in eGFR.
In addition, a metabolite component mediated 50% of the effect between PFAS burden score and eGFR, with each increase in PFAS burden score associated with a 23% decrease (95% CI, 2.5-39) in the protective metabolite component and an increase in the component associated with a 3.7% increase (95% CI, 1.4-6.1) in eGFR.
“Previous studies have shown that PFAs can impact kidney function and kidney disease, but this is one of the first studies to actually demonstrate that part of the mechanism might actually be through changes in the gut microbiome, and these play a really important role in health,” Jesse A. Goodrich, MD, assistant professor of population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, said in an interview.
According to Goodrich, a key takeaway is that it is potentially possible to modify the impact of PFAS exposures in the future by altering the gut microbiome using different interventions, but randomized controlled trials are warranted.
“Even though this was a small-scale study, it is starting to increase the evidence that these environmental exposures can impact kidney function in populations that are otherwise relatively healthy,” Goodrich said.
For more information:
Jesse A. Goodrich, MD, can be reached at jagoodri@usc.edu.
Hailey E. Hampson, PhD, can be reached at hhampson@usc.edu.
Reference:
- USC study finds link between PFAS, kidney function and gut health. keck.usc.edu/news/usc-study-finds-link-between-pfas-kidney-function-and-gut-health/. Published Oct. 17, 2024. Accessed Nov. 22, 2024.
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