Adopting Mechanistic Molecular Biology Approaches in Exposome Research for Causal Understanding

Amy L. Foreman*, Benedikt Warth, Ellen V.S. Hessel, Elliott J. Price, Emma L. Schymanski, Gaia Cantelli, Helen Parkinson, Helge Hecht, Jana Klánová, Jelle Vlaanderen, Klara Hilscherova, Martine Vrijheid, Paolo Vineis, Rita Araujo, Robert Barouki, Roel Vermeulen, Sophie Lanone, Søren Brunak, Sylvain Sebert, Tuomo Karjalainen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReviewResearchpeer-review

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Abstract

Through investigating the combined impact of the environmental exposures experienced by an individual throughout their lifetime, exposome research provides opportunities to understand and mitigate negative health outcomes. While current exposome research is driven by epidemiological studies that identify associations between exposures and effects, new frameworks integrating more substantial population-level metadata, including electronic health and administrative records, will shed further light on characterizing environmental exposure risks. Molecular biology offers methods and concepts to study the biological and health impacts of exposomes in experimental and computational systems. Of particular importance is the growing use of omics readouts in epidemiological and clinical studies. This paper calls for the adoption of mechanistic molecular biology approaches in exposome research as an essential step in understanding the genotype and exposure interactions underlying human phenotypes. A series of recommendations are presented to make the necessary and appropriate steps to move from exposure association to causation, with a huge potential to inform precision medicine and population health. This includes establishing hypothesis-driven laboratory testing within the exposome field, supported by appropriate methods to read across from model systems research to human.

Original languageEnglish
JournalEnvironmental Science and Technology
Volume58
Issue number17
Pages (from-to)7256-7269
Number of pages14
ISSN0013-936X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.

Keywords

  • Environment
  • Exposome
  • Exposure
  • GxE
  • Human Health
  • Molecular Biology
  • Toxicology

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