EDCs are chemical substances that can cause imbalances in the hormonal system. Disruption of hormonal regulation can lead to various diseases or adverse health effects.

“Hormones are signaling molecules that transmit information in the body. EDCs that enter the body can have a similar structure to hormones and mimic their effect, or they can affect the synthesis, transport, or metabolism of the endogenous hormones. They can thus disrupt the finely tuned interplay of processes in the body, leading to an imbalance or disruption,” explains Associate Professor Klára Hilscherová from the RECETOX center, one of the project’s implementers.

EDCs pose a significant risk to public health. To regulate their use within the European Union, new and effective methods for their evaluation need to be developed. Current EU testing tools do not always adequately identify potential hazardous effects, especially in the case of less studied or newly emerging EDCs. Moreover, current procedures for identifying and assessing the impact of EDCs on human health are often not linked to data characterizing their impact on the environment. The ERGO project aimed to remove this barrier and interlink approaches to EDCs assessment and relevant data.

The main goal of the project was to change the perspective on the use of standardized test guidelines in the regulatory field. The thyroid hormone system, which is very similar across vertebrates (fish, amphibians, mammals), served as an example of a signaling pathway where information obtained from fish or amphibians (non-mammalian vertebrates) is relevant for mammals, including humans. Thus, harmful effects observed in fish and amphibians indicate a risk of possible negative impacts on human.

The project focused primarily on improving and expanding existing testing strategies to better detect effects on the thyroid hormone system. The research targeted a set of priority chemicals representing groups of pharmaceuticals, industrial substances, pesticides, or flame retardants.

Scientists from the RECETOX center contributed namely by developing a set of in vitro methods based on human cell models, enabling the identification of substances that act through important mechanisms of thyroid hormone regulation disruption without testing on living organisms. RECETOX was also involved in ERGO with the CELSPAC population cohort. The presence and concentrations of potential endocrine disruptors (EDCs) were thus examined directly in collected blood and urine samples from the Czech population. Next to other important functions, thyroid hormones play a key role in prenatal development, especially in the development of the nervous system. Therefore, the research focused on a detailed characterization of the presence of a wide range of pollutants in pregnant women, their possible associations with thyroid hormone regulation, levels of these hormones and their metabolites, and the impact on cognitive development in children.

“All people are influenced by the environment in which they live. Substances present in this environment can enter the body, where they can affect various processes, including our hormonal system, and disrupt it in some way. Until we know which substances these are, we cannot prevent or limit their use. The ERGO project responds to this need and takes us a step closer to their more effective identification, and thus greater protection of human health,” summarizes Associate Professor Hilscherová.

ERGO, along with seven other projects, belongs to the EURION cluster (European Cluster to Improve Identification of Endocrine Disruptors) – a set of eight research projects funded by the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. Each project focuses on a different aspect of new approaches to describing the effects and identifying EDCs. In addition to ERGO, the RECETOX center was also involved in the OBERON project within EURION, which focused on developing a testing strategy for the impact of ECDs on metabolic disorders and metabolic diseases.