The following is a summary of “Prenatal exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals: The role of multi-omics in understanding toxicity,” published in the December 2023 issue of Endocrinology by Rabotnick, et al.
The term “endocrine-disrupting chemicals” (EDCs) refers to a wide variety of harmful substances that have been found in populations all over the world. Exposures to EDC during pregnancy affect birth and childhood outcomes. At the molecular, cellular, and organ levels, EDCs can function via undergoing persistent modification. It is possible to detect molecular and biochemical signals at several different functional levels, often known as omics. These functional levels include the epigenome, transcriptome, proteome, metabolome, and microbiome.
In this narrative review, researchers introduced each omics and instances of relationships with prenatal exposures to environmental contaminants. A significant amount of research has been conducted on epigenomic alterations in offspring who were exposed to EDCs during gestation. Additionally, there has been an increasing number of studies where the transcriptome, proteome, metabolome, or microbiome were evaluated in response to these exposures.
The integration of data across several omics layers, known as multi-omics, has the potential to enhance comprehension of altered function pathways that are associated with early life stressors. Here, they highlight various different approaches to data integration that should be considered in multi-omics research. They may get a better knowledge of the biological processes and mechanisms responsible for prenatal EDC toxicity by using the information obtained from multi-omics.
Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0303720723001971
