A vision for exposome epidemiology: The pregnancy exposome in relation to breast cancer in the Child Health and Development Studies

• Authors: Dean Jones, Emory University; Barbara A Cohn, Public Health Institute, Berkeley
• Journal Title: REPRODUCTIVE TOXICOLOGY
• Volume: Volume 92
• Publisher: PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD | 2020-03-01, Pages 4-10
• Type of Work: Article | Post-print: After Peer Review
• Publisher DOI: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.reprotox.2020.03.006
• Subjects: Health Sciences, Epidemiology; Health Sciences, Public Health; Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery
• Keywords: Science & Technology; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Reproductive Biology; Toxicology; Environmental health; Developmental toxicology; Redox theory of development; Redox code; Exposome theory; Exposome biology; Omics integration; HIGH-RESOLUTION METABOLOMICS; EXPOSURE; PERFORMANCE; LESSONS; RISK; DDT; AGE

Abstract

Etiology of complex diseases, such as breast cancer, involves multiple genetic, behavioral and environmental factors. Gene sequencing enabled detection of genetic risks with relatively small effect size, and high-resolution metabolomics (HRM) to provide omics level data for exposures is poised to do the same for environmental epidemiology. Coupling HRM to the Child Health and Development Studies (CHDS) cohort combines two unique resources to create a prototype for exposome epidemiology, in which omics scale measures of exposure are used for study of distribution and determinants of health and disease. Using this approach, exposures and biologic responses during pregnancy have been linked to breast cancer in the CHDS. With improved chemical coverage and extension to larger populations and other disease processes, development of exposome epidemiology portends discovery of new disease-associated environment factors with small effect size as well as new capabilities to disentangle these from behavioral and other risk factors.