JANUARY 2019 • Vol. 25 No. 1
New York Society of Cosmetic Chemists
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www.nyscc.org
Exploring the Exposome
he exposome is defined as the measure of all the health-related exposures of an individual in a lifetime. An individual’s exposure begins at birth and includes diet, lifestyle, occupational factors, environmental insults to the body, and the use of cosmetics and topically applied drugs. The exposome as it relates to skin was reviewed in the November 2018 issue of Cosmetiscope.1 The term exposome was coined by Christopher Wild. He published a paper in 2005 noting that: “There is a need for an exposome to match the findings obtained from the human genome learnings.” According to Wild, “This concept of an exposome may be useful in drawing attention to the need for methodologic developments in exposure (environmental) assessment.”2 The rational for this comment was the observation that learnings from the human genome project prediction for disease development was associated with environmental risk factors in addition to genetic risk factors for common chronic diseases. Further, Wild wrote that the exposome encompasses environmental exposure that includes lifestyle factors and internal environmental factors including tobacco use, alcohol consumption, diet, and stress. In later publications, Wild and others published methods of measuring or monitoring environmental exposure. He suggested use of personal sensors, biomarkers, the “omics” technologies (including proteomics, genomics, and metabolomics), and monitoring an individual’s external environmental exposure starting from prenatal development through adulthood. Human metabolism, hormonal variations, gut microflora, inflammation, and oxidative stress was included in the list of exposures to be monitored under the umbrella of internal exposome. In 2012, various European agencies started projects to monitor the exposome. In 2014, the HELIX project, a Barcelona-based Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology was established to develop an early-life exposome.3 The Imperial College in England evaluated the use of smart phones and GPS technology to monitor environmental stressors. In the United States, the National Institute of Health established a study of technologies supporting exposome research, including gene-environment interactions.4
…by Howard Epstein
Botanicals are being investigated for biomonitoring of environmental pollution. Plant leaves of Tillandsia recurvata, commonly known as Spanish Moss, were shown to be effective for monitoring heavy metals found in the air of urban communities with heavy truck traffic. Cassia siamea, a tree found in tropical climates including India was found to be a monitor of particulate dust pollution. Various species of algae are also shown to be useful for monitoring heavy metal water pollution. In addition to plant monitoring, other methods of measuring pollution exposure include studies of feral and caged animals as well as in vitro cell and tissue culture assays. Lipophilic pollutants accumulate in all organisms that contain lipids. The levels and activity of enzymes will often reflect levels of pollution in the organism.5 The accumulation of pollutants in lipid areas of the cell have an impact on various (Continued on page 4)
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