Researchers to study the impact of environmental chemical exposure on the gut microbiome

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. —

Worldwide, high rates of obesity and other inflammatory conditions are associated with increased risk for cancer, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

Investigating how environmental chemical exposure impacts the gut microbiome to exacerbate these conditions is the goal of a new $7 million grant awarded to Andrew Patterson, professor of molecular toxicology and the John T. and Paige S. Smith Professor in the College of Agricultural Sciences. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health, awarded the funding under its Revolutionizing Innovative, Visionary Environmental health Research, or RIVER program.

“Risk factors such as diet and lifestyle, as well as rare examples of genetic predisposition, can’t entirely explain this rapidly growing public health problem,” Patterson said. “There is compelling scientific evidence that exposure to environmental chemicals through the diet — in particular, persistent environmental chemicals — may play an important role in these chronic diseases.” Research needed. Patterson, who also holds an appointment as professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in the Eberly Col- lege of Science, said levels of these chemicals increasingly are found in humans. He said research is urgently needed to study the mechanisms associated with environmental chemicals and to evaluate their connection with chronic diseases like obesity and inflammatory bowel disease.

Patterson said previous research has shown that one of these receptors — the aryl hydrocarbon receptor or AHR — is a key factor in communicating between the host and gut microbiome. It’s a pivotal regulator of the immune system. His group will begin by building on its studies of the AHR and the gut microbiome and transition to examine other key receptors, with an eye toward identifying the mechanisms by which environmental chemicals influence host-microbiome interactions to exacerbate chronic disease.

Patterson will lead an interdisciplinary team consisting of experts in biochemistry, enzymology, immunology, metabolism, microbiology and toxicology.

Goals of study. The researchers will do the following:

• Examine how early-life exposure to environmental chemicals alters the gut microbiome to impact health outcomes — such as metabolic disorders or acute and chronic inflammatory bowel disorders — later in life.

• Investigate how environmental chemicals directly impact commensal, or beneficial, bacteria of the gastrointestinal tract including their metabolic activities and their potential to modulate human health.

• Explore pathways involved in how environmental chemicals control and influence human health.

Patterson said each theme addresses important questions related to environmental chemicals and the gut microbiome, and he anticipates that advances made within one theme may impact the direction of the others.