Do microplastics and nanoplastics induce and/or exacerbate liver cancer? A combined in vitro-in vivo study

Plastics are versatile materials with a myriad of applications in daily
life and degrade in the environment to smaller fragments called
microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs). MNPs can enter the human
body, mainly through ingestion, and are considered a potential health
hazard. However, human health effects of MNPs as well as the
underlying mechanisms remain elusive. This defines the scope of the
present PhD project, in which the hypothesis is that MNPs can
induce de novo liver cancer and/or exacerbate pre-existing liver
cancer. In a first step, three-dimensional spheroid cultures of human
primary hepatocytes and human liver cancer cells will be exposed to
MNPs followed by in-depth mechanistic analysis at the
transcriptional, translational and functional level. In a second step,
healthy mice as well as mice suffering from human-relevant liver
cancer will be exposed to MNPs with subsequent assessment of
clinical, transcriptional and translational read-outs. This PhD project,
jointly set up between VUB and UGent, combines fundamental and
translational research, and will first and foremost shed new light onto
the effects and mechanisms triggered by MNPs in the liver.
Moreover, this PhD project will facilitate future risk assessment of
MNPs, and therefore not only bears high clinical relevance, but also
has considerable epidemiological value