Exposomics as a discovery engine for emerging contaminants and hidden biological risks

Area of Science:

• Environmental Health Sciences
• Toxicology
• Biomonitoring

Background:

• Exposome science integrates diverse methods to study environmental exposures.
• Conventional monitoring often misses complex chemical mixtures and novel contaminants.
• Exposomics offers a powerful approach to uncover previously unknown environmental health risks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To map the application of exposomic approaches in detecting and characterizing under-regulated or unknown contaminants.
• To identify priority compounds and associated health outcomes revealed by exposomics.
• To assess the current landscape and identify gaps in exposomic research.

Main Methods:

• Conducted a scoping review following PRISMA-ScR guidelines.
• Searched four bibliographic databases and grey literature (2015-2025).
• Analyzed 67 eligible studies, with 42 charted quantitatively, focusing on high-income countries.

Main Results:

• Exposomics identified 17 priority compounds (e.g., GenX, PFAS, microplastics) with novel detections or biological effects.
• Pesticides, PFAS, and heavy metals were common targets, linked to metabolic, developmental, and epigenetic outcomes.
• Research is concentrated in high-income countries, highlighting geographic and data infrastructure gaps.

Conclusions:

• Exposomics expands hazard characterization and provides early warnings for risks missed by targeted surveillance.
• Gaps in geographic coverage, longitudinal data, and mixture analysis tools need addressing.
• Harmonized biomonitoring and One Health frameworks are crucial for advancing exposomics and chemical risk governance.