TY - JOUR
T1 - Biomarkers of exposure in environment-wide association studies – Opportunities to decode the exposome using human biomonitoring data
AU - Steckling, Nadine
AU - Gotti, Alberto
AU - Bose-O'Reilly, Stephan
AU - Chapizanis, Dimitris
AU - Costopoulou, Danae
AU - De Vocht, Frank
AU - Garí, Mercè
AU - Grimalt, Joan O.
AU - Heath, Ester
AU - Hiscock, Rosemary
AU - Jagodic, Marta
AU - Karakitsios, Spyros P.
AU - Kedikoglou, Kleopatra
AU - Kosjek, Tina
AU - Leondiadis, Leondios
AU - Maggos, Thomas
AU - Mazej, Darja
AU - Polańska, Kinga
AU - Povey, Andrew
AU - Rovira, Joaquim
AU - Schoierer, Julia
AU - Schuhmacher, Marta
AU - Špirić, Zdravko
AU - Stajnko, Anja
AU - Stierum, Rob
AU - Tratnik, Janja Snoj
AU - Vassiliadou, Irene
AU - Annesi-Maesano, Isabella
AU - Horvat, Milena
AU - Sarigiannis, Dimosthenis A.
PY - 2018/7/1
Y1 - 2018/7/1
N2 - Background: The European Union's 7th Framework Programme (EU's FP7) project HEALS – Health and Environment-wide Associations based on Large Population Surveys – aims a refinement of the methodology to elucidate the human exposome. Human biomonitoring (HBM) provides a valuable tool for understanding the magnitude of human exposure from all pathways and sources. However, availability of specific biomarkers of exposure (BoE) is limited. Objectives: The objective was to summarize the availability of BoEs for a broad range of environmental stressors and exposure determinants and corresponding reference and exposure limit values and biomonitoring equivalents useful for unraveling the exposome using the framework of environment-wide association studies (EWAS). Methods: In a face-to-face group discussion, scope, content, and structure of the HEALS deliverable “Guidelines for appropriate BoE selection for EWAS studies” were determined. An expert-driven, distributed, narrative review process involving around 30 individuals of the HEALS consortium made it possible to include extensive information targeted towards the specific characteristics of various environmental stressors and exposure determinants. From the resulting 265 page report, targeted information about BoE, corresponding reference values (e.g., 95th percentile or measures of central tendency), exposure limit values (e.g., the German HBM I and II values) and biomonitoring equivalents (BEs) were summarized and updated. Results: 64 individual biological, chemical, physical, psychological and social environmental stressors or exposure determinants were included to fulfil the requirements of EWAS. The list of available BoEs is extensive with a number of 135; however, 12 of the stressors and exposure determinants considered do not leave any measurable specific substance in accessible body specimens. Opportunities to estimate the internal exposure stressors not (yet) detectable in human specimens were discussed. Conclusions: Data about internal exposures are useful to decode the exposome. The paper provides extensive information for EWAS. Information included serves as a guideline – snapshot in time without any claim to comprehensiveness – to interpret HBM data and offers opportunities to collect information about the internal exposure of stressors if no specific BoE is available.
AB - Background: The European Union's 7th Framework Programme (EU's FP7) project HEALS – Health and Environment-wide Associations based on Large Population Surveys – aims a refinement of the methodology to elucidate the human exposome. Human biomonitoring (HBM) provides a valuable tool for understanding the magnitude of human exposure from all pathways and sources. However, availability of specific biomarkers of exposure (BoE) is limited. Objectives: The objective was to summarize the availability of BoEs for a broad range of environmental stressors and exposure determinants and corresponding reference and exposure limit values and biomonitoring equivalents useful for unraveling the exposome using the framework of environment-wide association studies (EWAS). Methods: In a face-to-face group discussion, scope, content, and structure of the HEALS deliverable “Guidelines for appropriate BoE selection for EWAS studies” were determined. An expert-driven, distributed, narrative review process involving around 30 individuals of the HEALS consortium made it possible to include extensive information targeted towards the specific characteristics of various environmental stressors and exposure determinants. From the resulting 265 page report, targeted information about BoE, corresponding reference values (e.g., 95th percentile or measures of central tendency), exposure limit values (e.g., the German HBM I and II values) and biomonitoring equivalents (BEs) were summarized and updated. Results: 64 individual biological, chemical, physical, psychological and social environmental stressors or exposure determinants were included to fulfil the requirements of EWAS. The list of available BoEs is extensive with a number of 135; however, 12 of the stressors and exposure determinants considered do not leave any measurable specific substance in accessible body specimens. Opportunities to estimate the internal exposure stressors not (yet) detectable in human specimens were discussed. Conclusions: Data about internal exposures are useful to decode the exposome. The paper provides extensive information for EWAS. Information included serves as a guideline – snapshot in time without any claim to comprehensiveness – to interpret HBM data and offers opportunities to collect information about the internal exposure of stressors if no specific BoE is available.
KW - Biomarkers of exposure
KW - Biomonitoring equivalents
KW - Environment-wide association studies
KW - Exposure limit values
KW - Human biomonitoring
KW - Reference values
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85048709606&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.envres.2018.02.041
DO - 10.1016/j.envres.2018.02.041
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85048709606
SN - 0013-9351
VL - 164
SP - 597
EP - 624
JO - Environmental Research
JF - Environmental Research
ER -