Feline PFAS eXposure and associations to endocrine related health outcomes (FELIX) – relevant to humans

Exposure to anthropogenic organic chemicals (OCs) has been suggested to contribute to the increasing incidence of endocrine diseases in humans and animals observed the last decades.

Cats are advantageous models for human exposure to indoor chemicals, as demonstrated in the previous Formas funded project MiSSE.

Cats’ grooming and toddlers’ hand-to-mouth activities leads to an elevated household dust intake and dust acts as a sink for OCs that are released from our household products, furniture and building materials.

In MiSSE we reported serum levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in cats to be higher than all other OCs determined.

A range of in vitro, and in vivo studies have reported PFASs to be interfering with the endocrine system, e.g. altering thyroid hormone and glucocorticoid levels.

Epidemiological studies have reported associations to e.g. diabetes, lowered birthweight and increased cholesterol serum levels. In FELIX, we will further investigate the exposure by analysis of >200 PFASs in cats and their environment.

Cat serum PFAS levels will investigated for associations to cats’ health status, including feline hyperthyroidism, diabetes, acromegaly and obesity; endocrine diseases with shared etiology in cats and humans.

Cat hair will be investigated as a non-invasive sampling matrix for analysis of PFAS and cortisol, linking the exposure to chronic stress and effects on the glucocorticoids, which will simplify feline diagnostics.