Environmental genomics and human health

Most diseases represent several or many specific pathophysiologic processes that can only be fully understood by focusing on the genetic and environmental contributions to etiology and pathogenesis. Environmental health research and genomic research are logical, even necessary, partners. Despite the difficulties inherent in teasing apart environmental contributions to human disease, a number of studies have shown both that non-genetic factors are significant components of disease risk and that environmental exposures, particularly during fetal development, can profoundly affect subsequent genetic expression. A comparative genomics approach among species using microarray analysis and bioinformatics approaches that allow the hypothetical creation of pathways should allow one to determine the functional homology of these different regulatory genes. However, performing such analyses across species requires a considerable collaborative effort between laboratories having expertise in human conditions and a working knowledge with each model system being compared. The vision of environmental genomics is to define the gene-environment underpinnings of human disease in ways that can lead to improved human health. Improved exposure assessment technology would allow researchers to decipher the environmental and genetic risk factors for disease development and progression, specifically the interaction between environmental exposures and gene sequence differences. It would provide a means to determine very early pathophysiologic measures of disease initiation, thus allowing for better screening and intervention strategies.