Research on PFAS

Cosmetics have gradually become indispensable in daily life; however, their safety concerns are increasingly prominent. Among them, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contained in cosmetics may enter the human body and induce diverse health hazards, raising growing public concern regarding their potential risks. In this study, network toxicology combined with molecular docking techniques was employed to systematically elucidate the mechanistic effects of PFAS on ovarian cancer in women. Toxicological features of PFAS—including endocrine disruption, reproductive toxicity, and carcinogenicity—were identified through the ProTox and ADMETlab 3.0 databases as well as literature review. PFAS-related targets were retrieved from STITCH, SwissTargetPrediction, and other databases, while ovarian cancer-associated targets were collected from OMIM, GeneCards, and similar resources. Intersection analysis identified 19 critical targets. Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), and protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analyses further revealed that PFAS may influence the progression of ovarian cancer via signaling pathways, estrogen signaling, and cell cycle regulation. Molecular docking validation demonstrated that the representative compound PFOS exhibited strong binding affinity with the core targets ERBB2 and PPARG, with binding energies of −68.2 kcal/mol and −9.1 kcal/mol, respectively. These findings suggest that PFAS may promote tumorigenesis by interfering with key signaling molecules. Collectively, while network toxicology still presents certain limitations, this study provides new insights into the potential pathogenic effects of cosmetic contaminants on female diseases, thereby offering theoretical evidence for the health risk assessment of PFAS in cosmetics.