Health Impacts of Environmental Pollution on the Urogenital and Reproductive Systems
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pathology, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 September 2025 | Viewed by 4
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Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Environmental pollution is increasingly being recognized as a significant etiological factor in the pathogenesis of neoplastic diseases affecting the urogenital and reproductive systems. Chronic exposure to a wide range of environmental contaminants—including endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), heavy metals, industrial solvents, and combustion by-products—can disrupt cellular homeostasis, induce oxidative stress and inflammation, and interfere with hormonal signaling pathways, all of which contribute to carcinogenesis. Epidemiological and experimental studies have linked specific pollutants such as bisphenol A (BPA), phthalates, dioxins, organochlorine pesticides, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to elevated risks of malignancies in the prostate, bladder, testes, kidneys, and reproductive organs. These agents may exert their neoplastic effects through genotoxic mechanisms or via epigenetic modifications and receptor-mediated pathways, particularly through estrogenic or anti-androgenic activity. The interplay between environmental exposures and genetic susceptibility underscores the complexity of cancer development in these systems. Therefore, interdisciplinary research and stringent regulatory oversight are essential in mitigating exposure risks and improving public health outcomes related to environmental carcinogenesis. In recent years, several analytical methodologies have been developed for detecting environmental pollutants in human tissues and evaluating individual exposure and its biological impact. Techniques such as gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) are widely used to identify and quantify organic pollutants in the blood, urine, adipose tissue, and reproductive fluids. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is the gold standard for detecting trace levels of heavy metals in biological samples. Additionally, biomonitoring approaches, including the measurement of pollutant-specific metabolites and biomarkers of effect (e.g., DNA adducts, hormone receptor expression, oxidative stress markers), provide insights into the physiological consequences of environmental exposure. Therefore, the integration of these advanced analytical tools into epidemiological data and molecular biology techniques is critical in elucidating the causal links between environmental pollution and neoplastic transformation in urogenital and reproductive tissues.
Dr. Anna Perri
Dr. Silvestro Antonio Ruffolo
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- pollution
- endocrine toxicity
- endocrine disruptors
- human biomonitoring
- infertility
- cancer
- inflammation
- oxidative stress
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