Rapid assessment of estrogenic compounds by CXCL-test illustrated by the screening of the UV-filter derivative benzophenones

- CXCL-test optimization allows the assessment of several estrogenic chemicals in a single assay.
- Utilization of CXCL-test to measure estrogenic activity of benzophenones.
- Benzophenones have estrogenic activity in the μM range.

CXCL-test is a method that uses the estrogen-dependent secretion of the natural endogenous chemokine CXCL12 to evaluate the estrogenic activity of molecules. CXCL12 chemokine is involved in the estrogen dependent proliferation of breast cancer cells. Its measure is an indicator of cell proliferation and is used as an alternative test to classical proliferation test.Here we aimed to optimize this test, first to increase the number of tested molecules in a single assay and then to decrease the number of intermediate steps. The optimized CXCL-test was finally used for the evaluation of the estrogenic potency of emerging chemical pollutants: the UV filter benzophenones (BPs). The effect of BPs on CXCL12 secretion was also validated by real time quantitative RT-PCR.The optimized CXCL-test allowed a fast and direct assessment of estrogenic potency of molecules. The estrogenic activities of benzophenones were characterized and divided in two groups. The first one contains weak estrogenic compounds (BP, BP1, BP2, BP3, 234BP and 2344′BP). The second one contains medium estrogenic compounds (4BP, 44′BP, BP8, THB).