An exposome perspective: Early-life events and immune development in a changing world

Abstract

Advances in metagenomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and systems biology are providing a new emphasis in research; interdisciplinary work suggests that personalized medicine is on the horizon. These advances are illuminating sophisticated interactions between human-associated microbes and the immune system. The result is a transformed view of future prevention and treatment of chronic noncommunicable diseases, including allergy. Paradigm-shifting gains in scientific knowledge are occurring at a time of rapid global environmental change, urbanization, and biodiversity losses. Multifactorial and multigenerational implications of total environmental exposures, the exposome, require coordinated interdisciplinary efforts. It is clear that the genome alone cannot provide answers to urgent questions. Here we review the historical origins of exposome research and define a new concept, the metaexposome, which considers the bidirectional effect of the environment on human subjects and the human influence on all living systems and their genomes. The latter is essential for human health. We place the metaexposome in the context of early-life immune functioning and describe how various aspects of a changing environment, especially through microbiota exposures, can influence health and disease over the life course.

A patient‐specific approach to develop an exclusion diet to manage food allergy in infants and children

“…Evidence also suggests that the microbiome of children with and without food allergy 130 and food sensitization 130 differs in terms of alpha and beta-diversity and specific organism strains present. Recent review papers 128,132,133 eloquently summarize that the human gut and its microbiome, the immune system, and dietary intake all influence and depend on each other. 131 The gut microbiome plays an important role in ensuring not only a physical but also an immunological gut barrier, which is of particular relevance in food allergy.…”

Gestation at birth, mode of birth, infant feeding and childhood hospitalization with infection

“…infection by age five years, and one in ten have multiple hospitalizations (2,3). Furthermore, these factors have been associated with a compromised immune system in early life (11) and it is important to assess whether the effect is cumulative, persists into childhood and predisposes children to one or many (recurrent) infections. The proportion of early planned births and births by CS has been increasing worldwide (9,10).…”

Down to Earth: Planetary Health and Biophilosophy in the Symbiocene Epoch

“…The mechanisms through which allostatic load can impair health include epigenetic modifications (e.g., methylation of the CpG dinucleotide in DNA, acetylation and methylation of histones, and the binding of small non-coding RNAs to DNA) that can activate or silence specific genes. Such modifications, reinforced through studies involving identical twins, also help to explain how total environmental exposures over the life course-lifestyle, environmental toxins, socioeconomic disparities, access to nature, aspects of the built environment, etc.-differentially impact the health risk of individuals throughout society [75].…”

“…), while largely ignoring how positive or beneficial exposures help to shape the healthy individuals we call "resilient". Interest in the "exposome" (total exposures and their impact on genes over time) has shifted toward these beneficial exposures: natural environments (e.g., green space), beneficial microbes, and psychological assets (e.g., optimism, sense of wonder, openness to experience, and emotional intelligence) [3,75].…”