Integrated Metabolomic and Transcriptomic Analysis Revealed the Mechanism of BHPF Exposure in Endometrium.

Abstract

Fluorene-9-bisphenol (BHPF) has been increasingly used as a bisphenol A substitute in the synthesis of various products. Previous studies have suggested that BHPF can be released from plastic bottles into drinking water, and BHPF accumulation has been reported to cause various adverse effects in humans. Nevertheless, the impact of BHPF exposure on endometrial epithelial cells remains largely unexplored. Here, we investigated the effects of exposure to different concentrations of BHPF on endometrial cells and used integrated metabolomic and transcriptomic methods to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms. Our results revealed significant associations between specific metabolites and genes, indicating that low-concentration exposure to BHPF affects endometrial epithelial cells by targeting pathways related to primary immunodeficiency, in which the key genes are IL7R and PTPRC. High-concentration exposure to BHPF decreased cell viability by regulating the purine metabolism pathway, as well as dysregulating the expression of PGM1, PDE3B, AK9, and ENTPD8. Our study highlights that the health risk of BHPF exposure to endometrial epithelial cells is concentration-dependent and that integrated analysis of metabolomic and transcriptomic data not only revealed the biological effects of BHPF and its underlying mechanisms, but also provided key candidate target genes for further exploration.