Am. Soto et al., THE E-SCREEN ASSAY AS A TOOL TO IDENTIFY ESTROGENS - AN UPDATE ON ESTROGENIC ENVIRONMENTAL-POLLUTANTS, Environmental health perspectives, 103, 1995, pp. 113-122
Estrogens are defined by their ability to induce the proliferation of
cells of the female genital tract. The wide chemical diversity of estr
ogenic compounds precludes an accurate prediction of estrogenic activi
ty on the basis of chemical structure. Rodent bioassays are not suited
for the large-scale screening of chemicals before their release into
the environment because of their cost, complexity, and ethical concern
s. The E-SCREEN assay was developed to assess the estrogenicity of env
ironmental chemicals using the proliferative effect of estrogens on th
eir target cells as an end point. This quantitative assay compares the
cell number achieved by similar inocula of MCF-7 cells in the absence
of estrogens (negative control) and in the presence of 17 beta-estrad
iol (positive control) and a range of concentrations of chemicals susp
ected to be estrogenic. Among the compounds tested, several ''new'' es
trogens were found; alkylphenols, phthalates, some PCB congeners and h
ydroxylated PCBs, and the insecticides dieldrin, endosulfan, and toxap
hene were estrogenic by the E-SCREEN assay. In addition, these compoun
ds competed with estradiol for binding to the estrogen receptor and in
creased the levels of progesterone receptor and pS2 in MCF-7 cells, as
expected from estrogen mimics. Recombinant human growth factors (bFGF
, EGF, IGF-1) and insulin did not increase cell yields. The aims of th
e work summarized in this paper were a) to validate the E-SCREEN assay
; b) to screen a variety of chemicals present in the environment to id
entify those that may be causing reproductive effects in wildlife and
humans; c) to assess whether environmental estrogens may act cumulativ
ely; and finally d) to discuss the reliability of this and other assay
s to screen chemicals for their estrogenicity before they are released
into the environment.