Untargeted Metabolomics Profiling of a PFAS-Exposed Flemish Population

Background/Objectives: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are persistent environmental pollutants that accumulate in humans through everyday exposure pathways, raising concern about long-term metabolic health effects in exposed populations. This study aimed to characterize PFAS-associated serum metabolic alterations in a Flemish population residing within a 3 km radius of a PFAS production facility using untargeted metabolomics and lipidomics. Methods: A cohort of 82 adults was stratified into high-exposure (n = 41, median total PFAS = 162.0 ng/mL) and low-exposure (n = 41, median total PFAS = 7.2 ng/mL) groups. Serum metabolic profiling was performed using four liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS)-based platforms. Univariate and multivariate statistics were conducted to identify metabolites that were differentially expressed between both exposure groups. Results: The analysis revealed 38 altered metabolites. Overall, high PFAS exposure was characterized by upregulation of phosphatidylglycerols (PG), phosphatidylinositols, phosphatidylethanolamines (PE), and triacylglycerols (TG) and downregulation of sphingomyelins, with differential regulation of ceramides, hexosylceramides (HexCer), and phosphatidylcholines. Glycerophospholipid metabolism as well as sphingolipid metabolism pathways were identified as perturbed. Seven lipids and one amino acid showed weak-to-strong correlations (|r|= 0.23-0.61) with PFAS levels. A panel of five metabolites was selected to explore whether they collectively form a potential metabolic signature associated with PFAS exposure. This panel, including L-aspartic acid, PG 18:0_18:2, HexCer (d18:1/14:0), PE 16:0_18:3, and TG 16:0_20:5_22:6, showed moderate discrimination between residents with high and low PFAS levels (area under the curve, AUC = 0.753). Conclusions: This study identifies coordinated lipid metabolic changes associated with PFAS exposure and highlights a small, exploratory metabolite panel that may provide complementary insight into the biological effects of PFAS.