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Title: Gaussian graphical modeling of the serum exposome and metabolome reveals interactions between environmental chemicals and endogenous metabolites.

Authors: Bessonneau, Vincent; Gerona, Roy R; Trowbridge, Jessica; Grashow, Rachel; Lin, Thomas; Buren, Heather; Morello-Frosch, Rachel; Rudel, Ruthann A

Published In Sci Rep, (2021 04 07)

Abstract: Given the complex exposures from both exogenous and endogenous sources that an individual experiences during life, exposome-wide association studies that interrogate levels of small molecules in biospecimens have been proposed for discovering causes of chronic diseases. We conducted a study to explore associations between environmental chemicals and endogenous molecules using Gaussian graphical models (GGMs) of non-targeted metabolomics data measured in a cohort of California women firefighters and office workers. GGMs revealed many exposure-metabolite associations, including that exposures to mono-hydroxyisononyl phthalate, ethyl paraben and 4-ethylbenzoic acid were associated with metabolites involved in steroid hormone biosynthesis, and perfluoroalkyl substances were linked to bile acids-hormones that regulate cholesterol and glucose metabolism-and inflammatory signaling molecules. Some hypotheses generated from these findings were confirmed by analysis of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Taken together, our findings demonstrate a novel approach to discovering associations between chemical exposures and biological processes of potential relevance for disease causation.

PubMed ID: 33828161 Exiting the NIEHS site

MeSH Terms: Administrative Personnel; Adult; Computational Biology/methods; Environmental Exposure/analysis*; Environmental Monitoring/methods*; Exposome; Female; Firefighters; Humans; Metabolome/genetics; Metabolomics/methods*; Middle Aged; Normal Distribution; Serum/chemistry

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