Comparative assessment of screening workflows for characterizing occupational exposure to chemicals in humans: an EU-PARC interlaboratory study
Abstract
Biomonitoring of occupational exposure to mixtures of chemicals remains a major challenge, as conventional targeted approaches can only cover a limited number of compounds. Suspect and non-target screening (SS/NTS) using high-resolution mass spectrometry offers a more comprehensive approach, however wider implementation requires robust and comparable analytical strategies with broad chemical coverage. An interlaboratory study was conducted within the European Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC) to evaluate the comparability and complementarity of SS/NTS approaches and to support the development of a standard operating procedure (SOP) for occupational biomonitoring. Urine and plasma samples fortified with 81 occupationally-relevant exposure markers at three concentration levels were distributed to eleven European laboratories from eight Member States and measured via their respective in-house Liquid Chromatography-and Gas Chromatography-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (LC-and GC-HRMS) workflows. Thirteen different analytical methods were applied: nine to both matrices, three to urine only and one exclusively to plasma samples. Eleven methods enabled detection of more than half of the fortified exposure markers (> 40 compounds) in the standard mixture, whilst eight and seven methods achieved the same for urine and plasma samples, respectively. Despite substantial methodological differences, numerous compounds were shared across Reversed-Phase (RP) and Hydrophilic Interaction Liquid Chromatography (HILIC) methods (57 in urine and 34 in plasma), with RP providing higher overall detection rates (eleven and 29 compounds detected exclusively by RP in urine and plasma, respectively). In addition, four compounds were detected *Correspondence: Baninia Habchi
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BibTeX
@article{habchi2026comparative,
title = {{Comparative assessment of screening workflows for characterizing occupational exposure to chemicals in humans: an EU-PARC interlaboratory study}},
author = {Baninia Habchi and Aurélie Martin Remy and Lidia Belova and Adrian Covaci and Annelaure Damont and Tina Kosjek and Carolin Huber and Nathalie Grova and Guillaume Antoine and Tarek Moufawad and Eirini Baira and Christian Baudry and Clément Chalet and Riccardo de Santo and Gaud Dervilly and Radu Corneliu Duca and François Fenaille and Mariana F Fernández and Catherine Gabriel and Corentin Huet and Gaëlle Jadé and Anna Laura Iamiceli and Ardiana Kajtazi and Olli Kärkkäinen and Konstantinos M Kasiotis and Alkistis Kevrekidou and Štěpán Koudelka and Lucyna Kozlowska and Marja Lamoree and Michel Laurentie and Bruno Le Bizec and Rosalie Nijssen and Herbert Oberacher and Elliott J Price and Helena Plešnik and Žan Rekar and Andrea Rodriguez-Carrillo and Dimosthenis Sarigiannis and Jean-Marie Savignac and Marta Stelmasiak and Katriina Sunnarborg and Aikaterini Termentzi and An van Nieuwenhuyse and Romain Vuillaume and Emma L Schymanski and Douglas N Rutledge and Jean-Philippe Antignac and Sophie Ndaw},
journal = {Environmental Sciences Europe},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1186/s12302-026-01452-2},
url = {https://anses.hal.science/anses-05802460v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Comparative assessment of screening workflows for characterizing occupational exposure to chemicals in humans: an EU-PARC interlaboratory study
AU - Baninia Habchi
AU - Aurélie Martin Remy
AU - Lidia Belova
AU - Adrian Covaci
AU - Annelaure Damont
AU - Tina Kosjek
AU - Carolin Huber
AU - Nathalie Grova
AU - Guillaume Antoine
AU - Tarek Moufawad
AU - Eirini Baira
AU - Christian Baudry
AU - Clément Chalet
AU - Riccardo de Santo
AU - Gaud Dervilly
AU - Radu Corneliu Duca
AU - François Fenaille
AU - Mariana F Fernández
AU - Catherine Gabriel
AU - Corentin Huet
AU - Gaëlle Jadé
AU - Anna Laura Iamiceli
AU - Ardiana Kajtazi
AU - Olli Kärkkäinen
AU - Konstantinos M Kasiotis
AU - Alkistis Kevrekidou
AU - Štěpán Koudelka
AU - Lucyna Kozlowska
AU - Marja Lamoree
AU - Michel Laurentie
AU - Bruno Le Bizec
AU - Rosalie Nijssen
AU - Herbert Oberacher
AU - Elliott J Price
AU - Helena Plešnik
AU - Žan Rekar
AU - Andrea Rodriguez-Carrillo
AU - Dimosthenis Sarigiannis
AU - Jean-Marie Savignac
AU - Marta Stelmasiak
AU - Katriina Sunnarborg
AU - Aikaterini Termentzi
AU - An van Nieuwenhuyse
AU - Romain Vuillaume
AU - Emma L Schymanski
AU - Douglas N Rutledge
AU - Jean-Philippe Antignac
AU - Sophie Ndaw
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/03
JO - Environmental Sciences Europe
DO - 10.1186/s12302-026-01452-2
UR - https://anses.hal.science/anses-05802460v1
AB - Biomonitoring of occupational exposure to mixtures of chemicals remains a major challenge, as conventional targeted approaches can only cover a limited number of compounds. Suspect and non-target screening (SS/NTS) using high-resolution mass spectrometry offers a more comprehensive approach, however wider implementation requires robust and comparable analytical strategies with broad chemical coverage. An interlaboratory study was conducted within the European Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC) to evaluate the comparability and complementarity of SS/NTS approaches and to support the development of a standard operating procedure (SOP) for occupational biomonitoring. Urine and plasma samples fortified with 81 occupationally-relevant exposure markers at three concentration levels were distributed to eleven European laboratories from eight Member States and measured via their respective in-house Liquid Chromatography-and Gas Chromatography-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (LC-and GC-HRMS) workflows. Thirteen different analytical methods were applied: nine to both matrices, three to urine only and one exclusively to plasma samples. Eleven methods enabled detection of more than half of the fortified exposure markers (> 40 compounds) in the standard mixture, whilst eight and seven methods achieved the same for urine and plasma samples, respectively. Despite substantial methodological differences, numerous compounds were shared across Reversed-Phase (RP) and Hydrophilic Interaction Liquid Chromatography (HILIC) methods (57 in urine and 34 in plasma), with RP providing higher overall detection rates (eleven and 29 compounds detected exclusively by RP in urine and plasma, respectively). In addition, four compounds were detected *Correspondence: Baninia Habchi
SN - 2190-4707
ER -