Biomarkers of Immunotoxicity for Environmental and Public Health Research

Abstract

The immune response plays an important role in the pathophysiology of numerous diseases including asthma, autoimmunity and cancer. Application of biomarkers of immunotoxicity in epidemiology studies and human clinical trials can improve our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie the associations between environmental exposures and development of these immune-mediated diseases. Immunological biomarkers currently used in environmental health studies include detection of key components of innate and adaptive immunity (e.g., complement, immunoglobulin and cell subsets) as well as functional responses and activation of key immune cells. The use of high-throughput assays, including flow cytometry, Luminex, and Multi-spot cytokine detection methods can further provide quantitative analysis of immune effects. Due to the complexity and redundancy of the immune response, an integrated assessment of several components of the immune responses is needed. The rapidly expanding field of immunoinformatics will also aid in the synthesis of the vast amount of data being generated. This review discusses and provides examples of how the identification and development of immunological biomarkers for use in studies of environmental exposures and immune-mediated disorders can be achieved.

Modulation of macrophage functionality induced in vitro by chlorpyrifos and carbendazim pesticides

“…In fact, immune disorders have been described in humans chronically exposed to CPF (Thrasher et al 1993) and CBZ (Corsini et al 2013). Furthermore, epidemiological studies related to human immunotoxicity from carbamates and organophosphates highlighted their associations with immune-related diseases (Duramad & Holland 2011;Reiss et al 2015). Such pesticide-induced dysregulations of the immune system have been reported to be associated with increases in host predisposition to allergies (Corsini et al 2013), autoimmune disorders (Kassi & Moutsatsou 2010), infectious diseases ) and even cancers (Dietert 2011;Alavanja & Bonner 2012).…”

Opportunities for bead-based multiplex assays in veterinary diagnostic laboratories

“…6 A review of markers in cerebrospinal fluid for the discovery of inflammatory profiles in neurodegenerative diseases using BBMA has been published 104 and explored potential uses for BBMA in identifying biomarkers of immunotoxicity for environmental and public health research. 46 …”

Raised levels of immunoglobulin G, A and M are associated with an increased risk of total and cause-specific mortality: the Vietnam Experience Study

“…Generally, having a robust antibody response to pathogens is important in terms of protection against infectious disease, and is considered a key indicator of health 3. For example, better protection against hepatitis B following vaccination4 is related to higher IgG levels 4.…”