Papers

20 results
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Article Tier 2

Microplastics: An emerging environmental risk factor for gut microbiota dysbiosis and cancer development?

This review examines how microplastics may disrupt the gut microbiome and immune system in ways that could promote cancer development. Evidence from recent studies suggests microplastics can cause chronic inflammation, alter the balance of gut bacteria, and trigger molecular pathways linked to several cancer types including lung, liver, breast, and colon cancer. While more human research is needed, the review highlights a concerning connection between microplastic exposure, gut health, and cancer risk.

2025 Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and the gut microbiome: Emerging health concerns and strategies

This review covers how microplastic ingestion affects the gut microbiome, describing mechanisms by which microplastics cause intestinal disorders, disrupt endocrine function, and promote pathogenic bacterial growth, while also noting inhalation and dermal absorption as secondary exposure routes.

2025 Journal of Environmental Biology
Article Tier 2

Impact of micro- and nanoplastics on gastrointestinal diseases: Recent advances

This review summarizes how micro- and nanoplastics can harm the digestive system by causing oxidative stress, inflammation, cell death, and disruption of gut bacteria. These connected pathways can damage the intestinal lining and may contribute to conditions like inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer. The findings highlight the importance of understanding how everyday plastic exposure through food and water could affect gut health over time.

2025 European Journal of Internal Medicine 7 citations
Article Tier 2

mTOR signaling pathway regulation HIF-1 α effects on LPS induced intestinal mucosal epithelial model damage

This paper is not about microplastics; it investigates how the HIF-1α protein modulates intestinal cell damage caused by bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) through the mTOR/P70S6K signaling pathway — a molecular biology study of gut inflammation.

2024 BMC Molecular and Cell Biology 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Mitigating microplastic-induced organ Damage: Mechanistic insights from the microplastic-macrophage axes

This review is the first comprehensive examination of how microplastics interact with macrophages, the immune cells responsible for engulfing and removing foreign particles from the body. When macrophages absorb microplastics, the resulting oxidative stress disrupts their normal function, leading to inflammation and organ damage, with gut bacteria potentially playing a role in this harmful process.

2025 Redox Biology 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Gut microbiota as an emerging target for the health implications of microplastics

This review examines how microplastic exposure disrupts the gut microbiome, finding evidence that microplastics damage intestinal barrier proteins, promote inflammation and oxidative stress, and may drive systemic effects including neurotoxicity and reproductive toxicity through gut-mediated pathways.

2025 Food Science and Human Wellness
Article Tier 2

Microplastics: an often-overlooked issue in the transition from chronic inflammation to cancer

This review explores how microplastics that accumulate in the human body may trigger long-lasting inflammation, which is a known driver of cancer development. The authors describe how microplastics can disrupt the gut microbiome, activate immune responses, and alter signaling pathways in ways that could promote tumor growth over time.

2024 Journal of Translational Medicine 46 citations
Article Tier 2

Gut microbiota, a key to understanding the knowledge gaps on micro-nanoplastics-related biological effects and biodegradation

This review explores how micro- and nanoplastics affect the community of microorganisms living in the gut, and how those same gut microbes might be able to break down plastic particles. Swallowed microplastics can disrupt the balance of gut bacteria, potentially leading to various diseases. On the other hand, some gut bacteria can actually degrade plastics into smaller, less harmful molecules, opening a possible avenue for biological cleanup.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Gut microbiota: an ideal biomarker and intervention strategy for aging

Not relevant to microplastics — this review explores how gut microbiome composition can serve as a biomarker for aging and a target for anti-aging interventions in humans, without addressing plastic pollution.

2023 Microbiome Research Reports 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro- and Nanoplastics as Emerging Environmental Materials: GreenChemistry Insights into Gut Microbiota Disruption and Chronic DiseasePathways

Researchers reviewed how micro- and nanoplastics accumulate in the gastrointestinal tract and disrupt gut microbiota composition, finding evidence linking these exposures to reduced microbial diversity, gut barrier dysfunction, systemic inflammation, and potential contributions to chronic diseases including metabolic disorders and neurodegeneration.

2026 Current Materials Science
Article Tier 2

Gut Microbiota and Extraintestinal Disorders: Are They Interrelated?

This review examines how disturbances to the gut microbiome — the community of bacteria living in the digestive tract — are linked not just to intestinal diseases but also to allergies, asthma, and cardiovascular conditions. This context is relevant to microplastics research because ingested plastic particles have been shown to alter gut microbial communities.

2021 Bengal Physician Journal
Article Tier 2

Pollutants, microbiota and immune system: frenemies within the gut

This review summarizes how environmental pollutants, including microplastics, disrupt the gut microbiome and immune system, potentially contributing to inflammatory bowel diseases and colorectal cancer. Pollutants reduce beneficial gut bacteria while promoting inflammation, weakening the intestinal barrier, and triggering a chain of events that can push cells toward cancerous growth.

2024 Frontiers in Public Health 36 citations
Article Tier 2

Developments in the field of intestinal toxicity and signaling pathways associated with rodent exposure to micro(nano)plastics.

This review synthesizes current research on how micro- and nano-plastics damage the intestinal epithelium, disrupt gut barrier function, and activate inflammatory signaling pathways. The findings highlight the gut as a primary site of microplastic accumulation and suggest that intestinal toxicity may link dietary microplastic exposure to systemic health effects.

2024 Toxicology
Systematic Review Tier 1

Impacts of microplastics on gut health: Current status and future directions

This systematic review found consistent evidence across mouse, fish, and earthworm models that microplastics disrupt gut microbiota composition, impair intestinal barrier integrity, and trigger gastrointestinal inflammation. The correlation between microplastic exposure and gut health deterioration was statistically significant across all animal models examined.

2025 Indian Journal of Gastroenterology 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Gut microbiome remodeling induced by microplastic exposure in humans

This review synthesizes evidence on how microplastic exposure affects the human gut microbiome, drawing on cross-sectional studies of people exposed through plastic food containers and other sources. Evidence indicates that microplastic exposure is associated with shifts in gut bacteria composition, including increases in certain bacterial groups linked to inflammation. The authors explore potential connections between microplastic-induced changes in gut bacteria and the development of various health conditions.

2026 Gut Microbes
Article Tier 2

Deciphering the Role of the Gut Microbiota in Exposure to Emerging Contaminants and Diabetes: A Review

This review explores the connection between exposure to emerging environmental contaminants, including microplastics and nanoplastics, and disruptions to gut microbiota that may influence glucose metabolism and diabetes risk. Researchers found that these pollutants can alter the composition and function of gut microbial communities through multiple mechanisms. The study suggests that the gut microbiome may be a key pathway through which environmental contaminants affect metabolic health.

2024 Metabolites 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and human health: unveiling the gut microbiome disruption and chronic disease risks

This review summarizes evidence that microplastics disrupt the gut microbiome, the community of bacteria in our digestive system that plays a key role in immunity, metabolism, and overall health. By altering gut bacteria balance and triggering inflammation, microplastic exposure may contribute to chronic conditions including inflammatory bowel disease, metabolic disorders, and potentially even neurological problems through the gut-brain connection.

2024 Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology 82 citations
Article Tier 2

Potential effects of MPs and their co-pollutants on human intestinal tract

This review examines how microplastics and their co-pollutants enter and damage the human intestinal tract, summarizing evidence for microplastic-induced gut barrier disruption, microbiota alteration, and systemic translocation to other organs.

2025 Reviews on Environmental Health
Article Tier 2

The role of gut microbiota in MP/NP-induced toxicity

This review summarizes how micro- and nanoplastics disrupt gut bacteria and why that matters for overall health. The tiny plastic particles change the composition and function of the gut microbiome, which can trigger inflammation, weaken the intestinal barrier, and potentially contribute to diseases beyond the gut through the immune and nervous systems.

2024 Environmental Pollution 22 citations
Article Tier 2

Orally Ingested Micro- and Nano-Plastics: A Hidden Driver of Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Colorectal Cancer.

This review synthesizes evidence linking ingested micro- and nano-plastics to inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer risk, proposing that microplastics act as a hidden driver of gut inflammation in vulnerable populations. The authors argue that intestinal accumulation of microplastics triggers immune and oxidative stress pathways that contribute to disease progression.

2024 Cancers