Environmental molecular epidemiology

Environmental molecular epidemiology integrates new knowledge in molecular toxicology,... 

Semenza, J.C. and Weasel, L.H., Molecular epidemiology in environmental health the potential of tumor suppressor gene p53 as a biomarker, Env. Health Perspect., 105, 155, 1997. 

Environmental Cancer Risk, Nutrition, and Individual Susceptibility (ECNIS) Studying use of biomarkers of exposure and susceptibility and bioindicators of disease in molecular epidemiology of cancer (ECNIS 2005). 

Wild, C.P. 2005. Complementing the genome with an exposome The outstanding challenge of environmental exposure measurement in molecular epidemiology. Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. 14(8) 1847-1850. 

Nina Holland is an associate adjunct professor of genetics and toxicology and director of the biorepository at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health. Her scientific interests include molecular epidemiology of children s health, cytogenetics, and reproductive toxicology. In Dr. Holland s Laboratory of Children s Environmental Health, research focuses on the development and implementation of genetic and immuno-... 

Perera FP, Jedrychowski W, Rauh V, Whyatt RM (1999) Molecular epidemiologic research on the effect of environmental pollutants on the fetus. Environ Health Perspect, 107(Suppl 3) 451-460. 

Biomarkers can also be used to identify factors that increase the likelihood that an individual will develop disease. This is an important area of research in molecular epidemiology as it becomes more evident that not all risk factors will contribute to disease equally across the human population. Therefore, in order to determine whether an environmental agent is related to disease, those factors that are also required for disease development need to be taken into account. Otherwise, many disease risk factors may go undetected. Examples of susceptibility factors that can be ascertained using biomarkers are some viral infections, which may predispose to specific diseases (for example, HIV infection and Kaposi sarcoma) or HBV infection and liver cancer. Biomarkers can also be used to measure dietary factors that can contribute to disease. The most common susceptibility factor studied using a molecular epidemiological approach are hereditary factors, which are discussed in the following section. 

The challenge for molecular epidemiological studies on genetic susceptibility consists of identifying which of these genetic variants can contribute to disease risk and also identifying which ones can modify the effect of environmental exposures. Until now, the approach that most studies have taken to answer these questions has... 

L, Popov, T.A., Garte, S., Taioli, E., Gabelova, A., Cebulska-Wasilewska, A. (2003). Molecular epidemiology studies of carcinogenic environmental pollutants. Effects of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in environmental pollution on exogenous and oxidative DNA damage. Mutat. Res. 544 397 02. 

Perera, F.P., Whyatt, R.M., Jedrychowski, W., Rauh, V., Manchester, D., Santella, R.M., Ottman, R. (1998). Recent developments in molecular epidemiology a study of the effects of environmental polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on birth outcomes in Poland. Am. J. Epidemiol. 147 309-14. 

Barrett JC (ed.) (1987) Mechanisms of Environmental Carcinogenesis, vols. I and II. Boca Raton, FL CRC Press. Hussain SP, Hofseth LJ, and Harris CC (2001) Tumor suppressor genes At the crossroads of molecular carcinogenesis, molecular epidemiology and human risk assessment. Lung Cancer 34 S7-S15. 

Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) Toxicogenomics. 2003-. Research Triangle Park NC NIEHS. Quarterly. ISSN 1542-4359. URL http //ehp.niehs.nih.gov/txg/. Section in Environmental Health Perspectives includes pharmacogenomics, proteomics, metabonomics, molecular epidemiology, translational aspects of genomic research, and molecular medicine. 

Mechanisms of carcinogenesis Metaix)lic (molecular) epidemiology wiUi genetic markers of environmental factors (pollution, dietary habits, lifestyle, etc.)... 

Molecular epidemiology opens perspectives for the investigation of cancer risk on humans on the basis of amalgamating environmental factors with modifiable host factors (lifestyle, dietary habits, etc.). 

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