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Future of environmental research in the age of epigenomics and exposomics

  • Nina Holland EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: October 21, 2016
Reviews on Environmental Health
From the journal Reviews on Environmental Health Volume 32 Issue 1-2

Abstract

Environmental research and public health in the 21st century face serious challenges such as increased air pollution and global warming, widespread use of potentially harmful chemicals including pesticides, plasticizers, and other endocrine disruptors, and radical changes in nutrition and lifestyle typical of modern societies. In particular, exposure to environmental and occupational toxicants may contribute to the occurrence of adverse birth outcomes, neurodevelopmental deficits, and increased risk of cancer and other multifactorial diseases such as diabetes and asthma. Rapidly evolving methodologies of exposure assessment and the conceptual framework of the Exposome, first introduced in 2005, are new frontiers of environmental research. Metabolomics and adductomics provide remarkable opportunities for a better understanding of exposure and prediction of potential adverse health outcomes. Metabolomics, the study of metabolism at whole-body level, involves assessment of the total repertoire of small molecules present in a biological sample, shedding light on interactions between gene expression, protein expression, and the environment. Advances in genomics, transcriptomics, and epigenomics are generating multidimensional structures of biomarkers of effect and susceptibility, increasingly important for the understanding of molecular mechanisms and the emergence of personalized medicine. Epigenetic mechanisms, particularly DNA methylation and miRNA expression, attract increasing attention as potential links between the genetic and environmental determinants of health and disease. Unlike genetics, epigenetic mechanisms could be reversible and an understanding of their role may lead to better protection of susceptible populations and improved public health.

Keywords: DNA methylation; environmental health; metabolomics; miRNA expression; personalized medicine; phthalates
Corresponding author: Nina Holland, PhD, Children’s Environmental Health Laboratory, School of Public Health, University of California, 733 University Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-7360, USA, Phone: +510-665-2200, Fax: +510-665-2202

Acknowledgments

Daneida Lizarraga’s and Kelly Nabaglo’s help with preparation of this manuscript is gratefully acknowledged.

  1. Research funding: This publication was made possible by grants R826886 and R82670901 from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and P01 ES009605; R01ES023067 and R01ES021369 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Science (NIEHS). Conflict of interest: Its contents are solely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIEHS and the EPA.

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Received: 2016-7-30
Accepted: 2016-9-15
Published Online: 2016-10-21
Published in Print: 2017-3-1

©2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. Environmental challenges in Central and Eastern Europe
  4. Mini Reviews
  5. The CEECHE: a practical approach for reducing exposures and disease outcomes in Central and Eastern Europe
  6. Perinatal health in the Danube region – new birth cohort justified
  7. Building multi-country collaboration on watershed management: lessons on linking environment and public health from the Western Balkans
  8. An open-sourced statistical application for identifying complex toxicological interactions of environmental pollutants
  9. Air exchange rates and alternative vapor entry pathways to inform vapor intrusion exposure risk assessments
  10. Review Articles
  11. Sustainable exposure prevention through innovative detection and remediation technologies from the NIEHS Superfund Research Program
  12. Future of environmental research in the age of epigenomics and exposomics
  13. Linking childhood allergic asthma phenotypes with endotype through integrated systems biology: current evidence and research needs
  14. Impact of nutrition on pollutant toxicity: an update with new insights into epigenetic regulation
  15. Environmental PAH exposure and male idiopathic infertility: a review on early life exposures and adult diagnosis
  16. The association of peripubertal serum concentrations of organochlorine chemicals and blood lead with growth and pubertal development in a longitudinal cohort of boys: a review of published results from the Russian Children’s Study
  17. Epigenomic reprogramming in inorganic arsenic-mediated gene expression patterns during carcinogenesis
  18. Emerging roles of xenobiotic detoxification enzymes in metabolic diseases
  19. Recent advances on iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles as sorbents of organic pollutants in water and wastewater treatment
  20. Review of heavy metal accumulation on aquatic environment in Northern East Mediterrenean Sea part I: some essential metals
  21. Original Articles
  22. Sensemaking, stakeholder discord, and long-term risk communication at a US Superfund site
  23. Valuing environmental health for informed policy-making
  24. How serious are health impacts in one of the most polluted regions of Central Europe?
  25. The results of interconnection of the evidence of professional exposure to genotoxic factors (regex) and cancer registry in the Czech Republic
  26. The impact of selected environmental, behavioral and psychosocial factors on schoolchildren’s somatic and mental health
  27. Markers of lipid oxidative damage among office workers exposed intermittently to air pollutants including nanoTiO2 particles
  28. Determinants of ETS exposure in a sample of Slovak pregnant women
  29. Respiratory toxicity of Fe3O4 nanoparticles: experimental study
  30. Exposure of children to phthalates and the impact of consumer practices in Slovakia
  31. Metal contamination in environmental media in residential areas around Romanian mining sites
https://doi.org/10.1515/reveh-2016-0032
Keywords for this article
DNA methylation; environmental health; metabolomics; miRNA expression; personalized medicine; phthalates

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. Environmental challenges in Central and Eastern Europe
  4. Mini Reviews
  5. The CEECHE: a practical approach for reducing exposures and disease outcomes in Central and Eastern Europe
  6. Perinatal health in the Danube region – new birth cohort justified
  7. Building multi-country collaboration on watershed management: lessons on linking environment and public health from the Western Balkans
  8. An open-sourced statistical application for identifying complex toxicological interactions of environmental pollutants
  9. Air exchange rates and alternative vapor entry pathways to inform vapor intrusion exposure risk assessments
  10. Review Articles
  11. Sustainable exposure prevention through innovative detection and remediation technologies from the NIEHS Superfund Research Program
  12. Future of environmental research in the age of epigenomics and exposomics
  13. Linking childhood allergic asthma phenotypes with endotype through integrated systems biology: current evidence and research needs
  14. Impact of nutrition on pollutant toxicity: an update with new insights into epigenetic regulation
  15. Environmental PAH exposure and male idiopathic infertility: a review on early life exposures and adult diagnosis
  16. The association of peripubertal serum concentrations of organochlorine chemicals and blood lead with growth and pubertal development in a longitudinal cohort of boys: a review of published results from the Russian Children’s Study
  17. Epigenomic reprogramming in inorganic arsenic-mediated gene expression patterns during carcinogenesis
  18. Emerging roles of xenobiotic detoxification enzymes in metabolic diseases
  19. Recent advances on iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles as sorbents of organic pollutants in water and wastewater treatment
  20. Review of heavy metal accumulation on aquatic environment in Northern East Mediterrenean Sea part I: some essential metals
  21. Original Articles
  22. Sensemaking, stakeholder discord, and long-term risk communication at a US Superfund site
  23. Valuing environmental health for informed policy-making
  24. How serious are health impacts in one of the most polluted regions of Central Europe?
  25. The results of interconnection of the evidence of professional exposure to genotoxic factors (regex) and cancer registry in the Czech Republic
  26. The impact of selected environmental, behavioral and psychosocial factors on schoolchildren’s somatic and mental health
  27. Markers of lipid oxidative damage among office workers exposed intermittently to air pollutants including nanoTiO2 particles
  28. Determinants of ETS exposure in a sample of Slovak pregnant women
  29. Respiratory toxicity of Fe3O4 nanoparticles: experimental study
  30. Exposure of children to phthalates and the impact of consumer practices in Slovakia
  31. Metal contamination in environmental media in residential areas around Romanian mining sites
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