ScienceView | Linking diseases and exposure to environmental factors using innovative omics technologies

Current technologies have made it possible to study how the interaction of genetic and environmental factors affects disease risk in whole populations. The EU-funded EnviroGenomarkers project with partners from Greece (Coordinator), the UK, Sweden, Netherlands, Italy, Finland and Taiwan carried out the first wide-reaching population study of this type.

The study used pre-existing blood samples from biobanks across Europe, which typically date back to nearly 20 years ago and were collected from people who were healthy at the time. The EnviroGenomarkers researchers selected such samples from nearly 1,000 persons, of whom some subsequently developed cancer and some remained cancer-free, and analysed them. By making this comparison, researchers were hoping to find indicators that could signal the future development of cancer. “Even when they were still healthy, the blood of those who became sick had already undergone changes that predict the development of the disease,” says project coordinator prof. Soterios Kyrtopoulos from the National Hellenic Research Foundation in Greece. This could help doctors and patients take precautionary measures before the disease appears. In addition, the project team analysed children’s blood samples from a biobank in Crete, Greece. “We wanted to know what impact exposure of pregnant mothers to environmental chemicals has on their childrens’ early pathology,” explains Prof Soterios Kyrtopoulos.

The study used omics technologies that allow researchers to screen the expression of very large numbers of genes at the same time. While these technologies are being used extensively for disease diagnosis, they had so far not been used in population studies that aim to link environmental exposure with disease. “It is no good trying to understand the risk of a disease by measuring if people are exposed to chemical A or B because people are exposed to lots of chemicals throughout their lives. If we want to understand disease determinants, we need to have this global view of exposure as well.” explains prof. Kyrtopoulos.