Bisphenol A alternatives can effectively substitute for estradiol in promoting cell growth through estrogen receptor alpha in human breast cancer cells

Plasticizers with estrogenic activity, such as bisphenol A (BPA), have been reported to have potential adverse health effects in humans, especially in fetal and infant stages. Due to mounting evidence and public pressure BPA is being phased out by the plastics manufacturing industry and is being replaced by other bisphenol variants in “BPA-free” products. We have compared estrogenic activity of 7 bisphenol analogues (BPA; bisphenol S, BPS; bisphenol F, BPF; bisphenol AP, BPAP; bisphenol AF, BPAF; bisphenol Z, BPZ; bisphenol B, BPB) in human breast cancer cell lines. We used microarrays to detail the alterations in gene expression profiles associated with MCF-7 cell line exposure to bisphenol A analogues MCF-7 cells treated during a period of 48h with the BPA alternatives and the natural hormone 17β-estradiol were subjected to a full transcriptome profiling using the Affymetrix microarray platform.