HELIX

The Human Early-Life Exposome – novel tools for integrating early-life environmental exposures and child health across Europe

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The aim of HELIX is to exploit novel tools and methods (remote sensing/GIS-based spatial methods, omics-based approaches, biomarkers of exposure, exposure devices and models, statistical tools for combined exposures, novel study designs, and burden of disease methodologies), to characterise early-life exposure to a wide range of environmental hazards, and integrate and link these with data on major child health outcomes (growth and obesity, neurodevelopment, immune system), thus developing an “Early-Life Exposome” approach.

HELIX uses six existing, prospective birth cohort studies as the only realistic and feasible way to obtain the comprehensive, longitudinal, human data needed to build this early-life exposome. These cohorts have already collected large amounts of data as part of national and EU-funded projects. Results will be integrated with data from European cohorts (>300,000 subjects) and registers, to estimate health impacts at the large European scale.

HELIX will make a major contribution to the integrated exposure concept by developing an exposome toolkit and database that will: 1) measure a wide range of major chemical and physical environmental hazards in food, consumer products, water, air, noise, and the built environment, in pre and postnatal periods; 2) integrate data on individual, temporal, and toxicokinetic variability, and on multiple exposures, which will greatly reduce uncertainty in exposure estimates; 3) determine molecular profiles and biological pathways associated with multiple exposures using omics tools; 4) provide exposure-response estimates and thresholds for multiple exposures and child health; and 5) estimate the burden of childhood disease in Europe due to multiple environmental exposures. This integration of the chemical, physical and molecular environment during critical early-life periods will lead to major improvements in health risk and impact assessments and thus to improved prevention strategies for vulnerable populations.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Due to our ever changing environment and habits, exposure to environmental contaminants is growing increasingly complex, but the health impact of environmental hazards remains poorly characterized. Prospective studies focusing on periods of high susceptibility, such as early life, should help predict individual disease risks related to the environment.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Major environmental hazards may lead to serious, chronic pathologies with large societal and economic costs, especially when exposure takes place during pregnancy or early life. Pollutants in food, water and air may be linked to a number of diseases such as neurological, respiratory, and cardiovascular disorders. To address this susceptibility through appropriate preventative measures and legislation, comprehensive data on exposure is required. In addition, we need to evaluate the combinatorial impact on health of exposure to multiple hazards.

The term exposome is used to describe the totality of exposure to environmental hazards from conception onwards. The EU-funded http://www.projecthelix.eu/ (HELIX) initiative will use prospective birth cohort studies at different sites across Europe to obtain the comprehensive, longitudinal human data needed to build on this concept.

Through specially developed tools and methods, the HELIX consortium will obtain estimates on the health impact of chemical and physical exposures in food, consumer products, water, air and the outdoor environment (external exposome). They will link these environmental exposures with alterations in the levels of metabolites, proteins, RNA transcripts and DNA methylation (internal exposome). This molecular signature will be measured by omics analyses in the cohorts.

Using novel statistical approaches, researchers will also try to associate multiple and combined environmental exposures with child health, focusing on overall growth, obesity, neurodevelopment and respiratory and allergic diseases. Importantly, HELIX will address the determinants (e.g. diet, social factors, and commuting habits) of individual variability in early-life exposures, in order to better predict individual disease risk and direct preventions.

Overall, HELIX will provide a better understanding of the effect of multiple environmental exposures early on during development. Since most studies thus far have concentrated on single pollutants, the integrated exposure concept is a more realistic approach to estimating the joint impact of the environment on health. This will lead to improved risk assessments and preventative strategies.