Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: Exposure, Toxicokinetics, Biomonitoring and Health Risk

Dear Colleagues,

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) constitute a family of several hundred ubiquitous congeners present in the environment in the form of a complex mixture. Exposure to PAHs concerns employees exposed in the context of their professional activities (metallurgy, electrometallurgy, petroleum refining, etc.) and also the general population exposed through air pollution (emissions from industries, heating and transport), lifestyle (tobacco consumption) and also dietary habits (consumption of grilled or smoked products).

Several PAHs are classified as probable or possible human carcinogens, while benzo[a]pyrene is classified as a definite human carcinogen due to an excess risk of occupational bronchopulmonary, bladder and skin cancers. In addition to these carcinogenic effects and potential cardiovascular and immuno- and neurotoxic effects, it appears that PAHs could also act as endocrine disruptors and be involved in the exponential increase currently observed for certain metabolic diseases such as diabetes, as well as in the problems of increased male and female infertility. Understanding the toxicological mechanisms underlying the carcinogenic and metabolic effects of PAH mixtures is an important issue today.

In this Special Issue, we invite you to propose original works providing elements of understanding of the toxicological mechanisms underlying the effects observed following exposure to PAHs (understanding of toxicokinetics, toxicodynamics, molecular and metabolic impacts, individual susceptibilities) by exploring the problem of complex mixtures and potential interactions between molecules. Particular attention will be paid to the search for relevant biomarkers of exposure and their effects and to molecular targets able to modulate the observed effects.

This knowledge, which could be derived from in vitro, in vivo, ex vivo, in silico or directly in humans, will allow a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms explaining the observed clinical effects to improve and reinforce the biological monitoring of populations exposed to PAHs thanks to more relevant biomarkers of exposure and effects, and more broadly, to better understand the problem of exposure to complex mixtures of pollutants throughout life and their impact on the appearance of chronic diseases. This work will make it possible to contribute to the reflection on the determination of toxicological reference values and on the approaches to the evaluation of health risks in the context of multiple exposures to PAH, which represents today, at a time of the development of research on the chemical exposome, a major challenge.

Dr. Christine Demeilliers 
Dr. Renaud Persoons
Guest Editors

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• polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
• exposure
• cocktails effects
• mixture
• metabolism
• cancer
• biomarkers
• risk evaluation
• toxicokinetics