A scalable workflow to characterize the human exposome

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Xin Hu, Emory University; Douglas Walker, Emory University; Yongliang Liang, Emory University; Matthew Ryan Smith, Emory University; Michael L. Orr, Emory University; Brian D. Juran, Mayo Clinic; Chunyu Ma, Pennsylvania State University; Karan Uppal, Emory University; Michael Koval, Emory University; Gregory Martin, Emory University; David Neujahr, Emory University; Carmen Marsit, Emory University; Young-Mi Go, Emory University; Kurt D. Pennell, Brown University; Gary Miller, Emory University; Konstantinos N. Lazaridis, Mayo Clinic; Dean Jones, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2021-09-22
• Publisher: NATURE PORTFOLIO
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © The Author(s) 2021
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25840-9
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 1
• Start Page: 5575
• End Page: 5575
• Grant/Funding Information: This study was supported by the NIEHS, U2C ES030163 (DPJ), R24 ES029490 (DPJ, XH), U2C ES030859 (DIW) and P30 ES019776 (CJM), NIDDK RC2 DK118619 (KNL), NHLBI R01 HL086773 (DPJ), US Department of Defense W81XWH2010103 (DPJ), and the Chris M. Carlos and Catharine Nicole Jockisch Carlos Endowment Fund in Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) (KNL).
• Keywords: METABOLOMICS; ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMICALS; Science & Technology; MASS-SPECTROMETRY; POLYCHLORINATED-BIPHENYLS; Multidisciplinary Sciences; PREDICTIVE HEALTH; PESTICIDE-RESIDUES; EXPOSURE; POLLUTANTS; EXTRACTION; Science & Technology - Other Topics; PCBS
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery; Environmental Sciences; Health Sciences, Public Health

Abstract

Complementing the genome with an understanding of the human exposome is an important challenge for contemporary science and technology. Tens of thousands of chemicals are used in commerce, yet cost for targeted environmental chemical analysis limits surveillance to a few hundred known hazards. To overcome limitations which prevent scaling to thousands of chemicals, we develop a single-step express liquid extraction and gas chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry analysis to operationalize the human exposome. We show that the workflow supports quantification of environmental chemicals in human plasma (200 µL) and tissue (≤100 mg) samples. The method also provides high resolution, sensitivity and selectivity for exposome epidemiology of mass spectral features without a priori knowledge of chemical identity. The simplicity of the method can facilitate harmonization of environmental biomonitoring between laboratories and enable population level human exposome research with limited sample volume.