Basic and clinical andrology
Integrative network toxicology analysis reveals mechanistic links between PFOA exposure and male reproductive dysfunction
By Zhou T, Zhang X, Yang J and 1 others.
Abstract
Objective
To systematically investigate the molecular mechanisms linking perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) to male reproductive health outcomes within a network toxicology framework, and to compare shared pathways across erectile dysfunction (ED), male infertility, and testicular dysfunction.
Methods
PFOA associated targets were identified using CTD, SwissTargetPrediction, and TargetNet, while disease related genes were collected from GeneCards. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks were constructed using STRING and analyzed in Cytoscape to identify hub genes. GO and KEGG enrichment analyses were performed to characterize biological processes and pathways affected by PFOA. Molecular docking was used to assess binding affinities between PFOA and key target proteins. In addition, preliminary in vitro experiments were performed to examine the expression patterns of selected candidate genes following PFOA exposure.
