Nuclear receptors are the major targets of endocrine disrupting chemicals

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are exogenous substances that are suspected to cause adverse effects in the endocrine system mainly by acting through their interaction with nuclear receptors such as the estrogen receptors alpha and beta (ER alpha and ER beta), the androgen receptor (AR), the pregnan X receptor (PXR), the peroxisome proliferator activated receptors alpha and gamma (PPAR alpha, PPAR gamma) and the thyroid receptors alpha and beta (TR alpha and TR beta). More recently, the retinoid X receptors (RXR alpha, RXR beta and RXR gamma), the constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) and the estrogen related receptor gamma (ERR gamma) have also been identified as targets of EDCs. Finally, nuclear receptors still poorly studied for their interaction with environmental ligands such as the progesterone receptor (PR), the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR), the glucocorticoid receptor (GR), the retinoic acid receptors (RAR alpha, RAR beta and RAR gamma), the farnesoid X receptor (FXR) and the liver X receptors alpha and beta (LXR alpha and LX beta) as well are suspected targets of EDCs. Humans are generally exposed to low doses of pollutants, therefore the aim of current research is to identify the targets of EDCs at environmental concentrations. In this review, we analyze recent works referring that nuclear receptors are targets of EDCs and we highlight which EDCs are able to act at low concentrations.