2D DIGE, principal component and mass spectrometry analysis of concentration dependent biomarkers in MCF-7/BOS cells exposed to 17β-estradiol

Endocrine system disruption has become a subject of great interest over the last few decades, since it has become evident that natural and also synthetic substances can mimic or reduce the activity of endogenous hormones. Compounds with estrogenic activity are an important family of potential endocrine disruptors that have to be monitored either in the food chain or in the environment. Estrogens are known to induce or promote hormonal dependent cancers, to reduce sperm counts and fertility in men and generate the feminization of exposed wildlife populations.
The rapid screening of unwanted chemicals in the food chain is beset by difficulties. The number of toxic compounds is very large and no universal method can cope with their diversity.
In this work, emergent differential proteomic techniques are used to discover a set of biomarkers for the development of a multiple estrogen contaminants screening test.