Exposome study for allergic diseases in children: Rationale and design of ECHO-COCOA study

Comprehensive consideration of the totality of environmental exposures and the resulting endogenous responses plays a crucial role in assessing the effect of early-life exposure on child health.

The Exposome and Child Health with Omics-COhort for Childhood Origin of Asthma and allergic diseases (ECHO-COCOA) study was conducted based on the COCOA birth cohort, a general population-based cohort study that aimed to evaluate multi-omics signatures of environmental exposures and their effect on childhood allergic diseases, obesity and neurodevelopment in Korea.

In total, 156 chemical pollutants and multi-omics profiles (methylome, genome, gut microbiome, transcriptome, metabolome, proteome, and multiplex cytokine assay) were investigated in 481 mother-child pairs. Our previous studies using omics analysis revealed the mechanisms of childhood allergic diseases. Studies on the complex interactions between early-life environmental exposures, omics, and various endotypes of childhood allergic diseases using an integrative multi-omics approach are underway. The ECHO-COCOA study will evolve further in the future by increasing its sample size, using advanced exposure measurement methods, integrating different omics technologies, and developing new statistical methods. Collaboration and integration with other birth cohort studies or external validation will aid in advancing the ECHO-COCOA study.

The findings of this study may enable the development of precision medicine and prevention of allergic diseases, obesity, and neurodevelopment based on harmful exposures, especially during critical periods of life.