Widespread detection of Polyethylene glycol reveals chronic human exposure through pharmaceutical drugs
- 1Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California San Diego
Abstract
Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is a synthetic polymer ubiquitous in pharmaceuticals, personal care products, food additives, and industrial manufacturing. Despite its widespread use and potential importance as an exposure chemical, the prevalence of PEG exposure and its excretion in human populations remain largely uncharacterized. Moreover, PEG detected in human biofluids is frequently assumed to arise from analytical contamination during sample preparation, potentially obscuring its contribution to the human exposome and confounding metabolic phenotyping studies. Here, we show that PEG is as component of the human xenobiotic exposome and is further metabolized into PEG hydoxy acid and diacid metabolites in humans. We further find that PEG exposure is associated with alterations in microbiome composition and short-chain fatty acid metabolism, suggesting its biological impact of its exposure. We identify PEG exposure in approximately 2.3% of publicly available metabolomics data files and provide a reusable 85,484 candidate PEG and PEGylated MS/MS spectral library for future use for the metabolomic community. Together, these findings establish PEG signal in human biofluids can reflect genuine exposure, and that PEG exposure is neither metabolically inert nor biologically silent.
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BibTeX
@misc{gouda2026widespread,
title = {{Widespread detection of Polyethylene glycol reveals chronic human exposure through pharmaceutical drugs}},
author = {H. Gouda and P. Kelly and L. Whiley and D. Gomez-Perez and A. Mascellani Bergo and W. D. Goncalves Nunes and E. Chekmeneva and A. H. Y. Yuen and M. David and S. McKirdy and A. Nelson and D. L. Smith and H. N. Zhao and J. I. Seo and E. J. Mathias and G. Farrell and T. Scheurink and M. Strobel and H. Mannochio-Russo and K. Gkikas and M. Wang and J. Havlik and C. Quince and Z. Takats and M. Lewis and K. Gerasimidis and N. J. W. Rattray and P. C. Dorrestein},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.11.750999},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.11.750999v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Widespread detection of Polyethylene glycol reveals chronic human exposure through pharmaceutical drugs
AU - H. Gouda
AU - P. Kelly
AU - L. Whiley
AU - D. Gomez-Perez
AU - A. Mascellani Bergo
AU - W. D. Goncalves Nunes
AU - E. Chekmeneva
AU - A. H. Y. Yuen
AU - M. David
AU - S. McKirdy
AU - A. Nelson
AU - D. L. Smith
AU - H. N. Zhao
AU - J. I. Seo
AU - E. J. Mathias
AU - G. Farrell
AU - T. Scheurink
AU - M. Strobel
AU - H. Mannochio-Russo
AU - K. Gkikas
AU - M. Wang
AU - J. Havlik
AU - C. Quince
AU - Z. Takats
AU - M. Lewis
AU - K. Gerasimidis
AU - N. J. W. Rattray
AU - P. C. Dorrestein
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/11
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.11.750999
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.11.750999v1
AB - Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is a synthetic polymer ubiquitous in pharmaceuticals, personal care products, food additives, and industrial manufacturing. Despite its widespread use and potential importance as an exposure chemical, the prevalence of PEG exposure and its excretion in human populations remain largely uncharacterized. Moreover, PEG detected in human biofluids is frequently assumed to arise from analytical contamination during sample preparation, potentially obscuring its contribution to the human exposome and confounding metabolic phenotyping studies. Here, we show that PEG is as component of the human xenobiotic exposome and is further metabolized into PEG hydoxy acid and diacid metabolites in humans. We further find that PEG exposure is associated with alterations in microbiome composition and short-chain fatty acid metabolism, suggesting its biological impact of its exposure. We identify PEG exposure in approximately 2.3% of publicly available metabolomics data files and provide a reusable 85,484 candidate PEG and PEGylated MS/MS spectral library for future use for the metabolomic community. Together, these findings establish PEG signal in human biofluids can reflect genuine exposure, and that PEG exposure is neither metabolically inert nor biologically silent.
ER -