Estrogenic effects of ingredients of glyphosate-based herbicide ingredients in human breast cancer cells

Glyphosate-based herbicides are the major pesticides used worldwide. There is an intense debate on the estrogenic effects of their ingredients. We have compared the estrogenic effects of glyphosate (the active principle), polyethoxylated tallowamine (a co-formulant), and a commercial formulations containing different co-formulants to those of estradiol and bisphenol A in the MCF-7 human breast cancer cell line. The gene expression profiles were determined using the Affymetrix Human Transcriptome 2.0 Array. MCF-7 cells treated during a period of 48h glyphosate-based herbicide ingredients and the natural hormone 17β-estradiol were subjected to a full transcriptome profiling using the Affymetrix microarray platform.