Pilot study: Assessing a newly developed method to measure concentration of microplastics in stored whole blood samples
Principal Investigator
Name
Mark Purdue
Degrees
PhD
Institution
DCEG, NCI
Position Title
Senior Investigator
Email
About this CDAS Project
Study
PLCO
(Learn more about this study)
Project ID
2025-9060
Initial CDAS Request Approval
Aug 29, 2025
Title
Pilot study: Assessing a newly developed method to measure concentration of microplastics in stored whole blood samples
Summary
Plastic production has increased in the past decades, and exposure to fine particles in the environment has become an increasing concern for human health.
A recent report from the World Health Organization (WHO)4 raised concerns about the ubiquity of likely exposure to MPs in the environment and their potential effects on human health5–9. To date, most evaluations have been toxicology studies and focused on synthetic microbeads that are intentionally manufactured for industrial or household use (primary MPs) and are mostly uniform in size and shape. More recent interest has been on secondary MPs, which are unintentionally produced via degradation of larger plastic items, comprise a large proportion of MPs in the environment, and exist in variety of sizes and shapes (e.g., cubic, spherical, and rod)10. Experimental studies have shown that MPs can exert effects across human endocrine, reproductive, digestive, respiratory, and immune systems11,12,1314.Notably, in vitro experiments with human cells and in vivo data from mice showed that MPs elicit adverse health effects primarily by causing inflammation, oxidative stress by increasing reactive oxygen species production, gut microbiota dysbiosis, neurotoxicity, and lipid metabolism disturbances12,13,15.
While there have been several experimental studies of MPs, there are few epidemiological investigations of the potential impacts on human health, mainly due to limited approaches to assess exposure. There have been several approaches developed to measure MP concentration, size, shape, and chemistry in environmental samples (e.g., air, water, salt, crops) as well as in biospecimens (e.g., lung tissue, saliva, urine, placenta, whole blood), including Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and Pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Pyr-GC/MS)16,17. Further, extensive plastic-free study protocols are being developed for future sample collection and storage to limit potential contamination that may impact MP exposure classification. However, validation of these methods in the general population using existing stored biospecimen, an important step prior to conducting human health studies, has been limited.
Dr. Douglas Walker from Emory University recently developed a laboratory and quantitative method, Fast, Single Tissue Extraction for Multiplexed Plastics Analysis (FaSTE-MPA), to measure concentrations of MPs in human whole blood, as well as characterize the type of MP polymers and co-transported toxicants, such as metals and pathogens. His laboratory is currently assessing recently collected whole blood samples from healthy volunteers, following a plastic-free sample collection and storage protocol. In collaboration with Dr. Walker’s laboratory, we propose using whole blood samples from PLCO’s healthy donors’ population with a repeat measurement to conduct a methodological assessment of the FaSTE-MPA method, including evaluation of the method’s reproducibility, intraindividual variability between the two collection timepoints, and comparison of MP concentrations between PLCO samples collected between 1993 and 2001, and those recently collected by Dr. Walker. Specifically, we will use the FaSTE-MPA method to measure MP concentrations in whole blood samples from 36 individuals at 2 time points, as well as in 36 repeat samples from the same time point used for quality control (QC) for a total of 108 samples.
A recent report from the World Health Organization (WHO)4 raised concerns about the ubiquity of likely exposure to MPs in the environment and their potential effects on human health5–9. To date, most evaluations have been toxicology studies and focused on synthetic microbeads that are intentionally manufactured for industrial or household use (primary MPs) and are mostly uniform in size and shape. More recent interest has been on secondary MPs, which are unintentionally produced via degradation of larger plastic items, comprise a large proportion of MPs in the environment, and exist in variety of sizes and shapes (e.g., cubic, spherical, and rod)10. Experimental studies have shown that MPs can exert effects across human endocrine, reproductive, digestive, respiratory, and immune systems11,12,1314.Notably, in vitro experiments with human cells and in vivo data from mice showed that MPs elicit adverse health effects primarily by causing inflammation, oxidative stress by increasing reactive oxygen species production, gut microbiota dysbiosis, neurotoxicity, and lipid metabolism disturbances12,13,15.
While there have been several experimental studies of MPs, there are few epidemiological investigations of the potential impacts on human health, mainly due to limited approaches to assess exposure. There have been several approaches developed to measure MP concentration, size, shape, and chemistry in environmental samples (e.g., air, water, salt, crops) as well as in biospecimens (e.g., lung tissue, saliva, urine, placenta, whole blood), including Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and Pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Pyr-GC/MS)16,17. Further, extensive plastic-free study protocols are being developed for future sample collection and storage to limit potential contamination that may impact MP exposure classification. However, validation of these methods in the general population using existing stored biospecimen, an important step prior to conducting human health studies, has been limited.
Dr. Douglas Walker from Emory University recently developed a laboratory and quantitative method, Fast, Single Tissue Extraction for Multiplexed Plastics Analysis (FaSTE-MPA), to measure concentrations of MPs in human whole blood, as well as characterize the type of MP polymers and co-transported toxicants, such as metals and pathogens. His laboratory is currently assessing recently collected whole blood samples from healthy volunteers, following a plastic-free sample collection and storage protocol. In collaboration with Dr. Walker’s laboratory, we propose using whole blood samples from PLCO’s healthy donors’ population with a repeat measurement to conduct a methodological assessment of the FaSTE-MPA method, including evaluation of the method’s reproducibility, intraindividual variability between the two collection timepoints, and comparison of MP concentrations between PLCO samples collected between 1993 and 2001, and those recently collected by Dr. Walker. Specifically, we will use the FaSTE-MPA method to measure MP concentrations in whole blood samples from 36 individuals at 2 time points, as well as in 36 repeat samples from the same time point used for quality control (QC) for a total of 108 samples.
Aims
Primary Aim 1. To assess the MP measurement’s reliability and reproducibility by estimating
the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and coefficient of variation (CV).
Primary Aim 2. To assess intraindividual variation of MP concentration across the two sample collection periods (T3 and T5).
Secondary Aim 1. To describe the range in levels of MP concentrations overall, as well as by
date of sample collection, study center and demographic factors (sex, age).
Collaborators
Mark Purdue (National Cancer Institute)
Rena Jones (National Cancer Institute)
Qing Lan (National Cancer Institute)
Nathaniel Rothman (National Cancer Institute)
Ruth Pfeiffer (National Cancer Institute)
Batel Blechter (National Cancer Institute)