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Loh MM, Schmidt P, Christopher de Vries Y, Vogel N, Kolossa-Gehring M, Vlaanderen J, Lebret E, Luijten M. Toxicity Weighting for Human Biomonitoring Mixture Risk Assessment: A Proof of Concept. TOXICS 2023; 11:toxics11050408. [PMID: 37235224 DOI: 10.3390/toxics11050408] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2023] [Revised: 03/25/2023] [Accepted: 03/29/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Chemical mixture risk assessment has, in the past, primarily focused on exposures quantified in the external environment. Assessing health risks using human biomonitoring (HBM) data provides information on the internal concentration, from which a dose can be derived, of chemicals to which human populations are exposed. This study describes a proof of concept for conducting mixture risk assessment with HBM data, using the population-representative German Environmental Survey (GerES) V as a case study. We first attempted to identify groups of correlated biomarkers (also known as 'communities', reflecting co-occurrence patterns of chemicals) using a network analysis approach (n = 515 individuals) on 51 chemical substances in urine. The underlying question is whether the combined body burden of multiple chemicals is of potential health concern. If so, subsequent questions are which chemicals and which co-occurrence patterns are driving the potential health risks. To address this, a biomonitoring hazard index was developed by summing over hazard quotients, where each biomarker concentration was weighted (divided) by the associated HBM health-based guidance value (HBM-HBGV, HBM value or equivalent). Altogether, for 17 out of the 51 substances, health-based guidance values were available. If the hazard index was higher than 1, then the community was considered of potential health concern and should be evaluated further. Overall, seven communities were identified in the GerES V data. Of the five mixture communities where a hazard index was calculated, the highest hazard community contained N-Acetyl-S-(2-carbamoyl-ethyl)cysteine (AAMA), but this was the only biomarker for which a guidance value was available. Of the other four communities, one included the phthalate metabolites mono-isobutyl phthalate (MiBP) and mono-n-butyl phthalate (MnBP) with high hazard quotients, which led to hazard indices that exceed the value of one in 5.8% of the participants included in the GerES V study. This biological index method can put forward communities of co-occurrence patterns of chemicals on a population level that need further assessment in toxicology or health effects studies. Future mixture risk assessment using HBM data will benefit from additional HBM health-based guidance values based on population studies. Additionally, accounting for different biomonitoring matrices would provide a wider range of exposures. Future hazard index analyses could also take a common mode of action approach, rather than the more agnostic and non-specific approach we have taken in this proof of concept.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miranda M Loh
- Institute of Occupational Medicine-IOM, Edinburgh EH14 4AP, UK
| | | | | | - Nina Vogel
- German Environment Agency (UBA), 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Jelle Vlaanderen
- Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Utrecht University, 3584 CM Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Erik Lebret
- Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Utrecht University, 3584 CM Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Center for Sustainability, Environment and Health, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands
| | - Mirjam Luijten
- Center for Health Protection, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands
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Santonen T, Mahiout S, Alvito P, Apel P, Bessems J, Bil W, Borges T, Bose-O'Reilly S, Buekers J, Cañas Portilla AI, Calvo AC, de Alba González M, Domínguez-Morueco N, López ME, Falnoga I, Gerofke A, Caballero MDCG, Horvat M, Huuskonen P, Kadikis N, Kolossa-Gehring M, Lange R, Louro H, Martins C, Meslin M, Niemann L, Díaz SP, Plichta V, Porras SP, Rousselle C, Scholten B, Silva MJ, Šlejkovec Z, Tratnik JS, Joksić AŠ, Tarazona JV, Uhl M, Van Nieuwenhuyse A, Viegas S, Vinggaard AM, Woutersen M, Schoeters G. How to use human biomonitoring in chemical risk assessment: Methodological aspects, recommendations, and lessons learned from HBM4EU. Int J Hyg Environ Health 2023; 249:114139. [PMID: 36870229 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2023.114139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2022] [Revised: 02/13/2023] [Accepted: 02/14/2023] [Indexed: 03/06/2023]
Abstract
One of the aims of the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative, HBM4EU, was to provide examples of and good practices for the effective use of human biomonitoring (HBM) data in human health risk assessment (RA). The need for such information is pressing, as previous research has indicated that regulatory risk assessors generally lack knowledge and experience of the use of HBM data in RA. By recognising this gap in expertise, as well as the added value of incorporating HBM data into RA, this paper aims to support the integration of HBM into regulatory RA. Based on the work of the HBM4EU, we provide examples of different approaches to including HBM in RA and in estimations of the environmental burden of disease (EBoD), the benefits and pitfalls involved, information on the important methodological aspects to consider, and recommendations on how to overcome obstacles. The examples are derived from RAs or EBoD estimations made under the HBM4EU for the following HBM4EU priority substances: acrylamide, o-toluidine of the aniline family, aprotic solvents, arsenic, bisphenols, cadmium, diisocyanates, flame retardants, hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)], lead, mercury, mixture of per-/poly-fluorinated compounds, mixture of pesticides, mixture of phthalates, mycotoxins, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and the UV-filter benzophenone-3. Although the RA and EBoD work presented here is not intended to have direct regulatory implications, the results can be useful for raising awareness of possibly needed policy actions, as newly generated HBM data from HBM4EU on the current exposure of the EU population has been used in many RAs and EBoD estimations.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Paula Alvito
- National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge, 1649-016, Lisbon, Portugal; Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM), University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Petra Apel
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jos Bessems
- VITO-Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Mol, Belgium
| | - Wieneke Bil
- National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, the Netherlands
| | - Teresa Borges
- General-Directorate of Health, Ministry of Health, 1049-005, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Stephan Bose-O'Reilly
- Department of Public Health, Health Services Research and Health Technology Assessment, UMIT - Private University for Health Sciences, Medical Informations und Technology, Hall i.T., Austria
| | - Jurgen Buekers
- VITO-Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Mol, Belgium
| | | | - Argelia Castaño Calvo
- National Centre for Environmental Health, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
| | | | | | - Marta Esteban López
- National Centre for Environmental Health, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
| | | | - Antje Gerofke
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Rosa Lange
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Henriqueta Louro
- National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge, 1649-016, Lisbon, Portugal; ToxOmics-Centre for Toxicogenomics and Human Health, NOVA Medical School, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Campo dos Mártires da Pátria, 130, 1169-056, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Carla Martins
- NOVA National School of Public Health, Public Health Research Centre, NOVA University Lisbon, 1600-560, Lisbon, Portugal; Comprehensive Health Research Center (CHRC), NOVA University Lisbon, 1600-560, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Matthieu Meslin
- French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety, Anses, 14 rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 94701, Maisons-Alfort, France
| | - Lars Niemann
- German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Berlin, Germany
| | - Susana Pedraza Díaz
- National Centre for Environmental Health, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
| | - Veronika Plichta
- Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, Department Risk Assessment, Spargelfeldstraße 191, 1220, Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Christophe Rousselle
- French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety, Anses, 14 rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 94701, Maisons-Alfort, France
| | - Bernice Scholten
- Research Group Risk Analysis for Products in Development, The Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific research (TNO), Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Maria João Silva
- National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge, 1649-016, Lisbon, Portugal; ToxOmics-Centre for Toxicogenomics and Human Health, NOVA Medical School, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Campo dos Mártires da Pátria, 130, 1169-056, Lisboa, Portugal
| | | | | | | | - Jose V Tarazona
- National Centre for Environmental Health, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain; European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Parma, Italy
| | - Maria Uhl
- Environment Agency Austria, Spittelauer Lände 5, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Susana Viegas
- NOVA National School of Public Health, Public Health Research Centre, NOVA University Lisbon, 1600-560, Lisbon, Portugal; Comprehensive Health Research Center (CHRC), NOVA University Lisbon, 1600-560, Lisbon, Portugal
| | | | - Marjolijn Woutersen
- National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, the Netherlands
| | - Greet Schoeters
- VITO-Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Mol, Belgium; University of Antwerp, Dept of Biomedical Sciences, Antwerp, Belgium
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Apel P, Lamkarkach F, Lange R, Sissoko F, David M, Rousselle C, Schoeters G, Kolossa-Gehring M. Human biomonitoring guidance values (HBM-GVs) for priority substances under the HBM4EU initiative - New values derivation for deltamethrin and cyfluthrin and overall results. Int J Hyg Environ Health 2023; 248:114097. [PMID: 36577283 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2022.114097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2022] [Revised: 12/01/2022] [Accepted: 12/02/2022] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
The European Initiative HBM4EU aimed to further establish human biomonitoring across Europe as an important tool for determining population exposure to chemicals and as part of health-related risk assessments, thus making it applicable for policy advice. Not only should analytical methods and survey design be harmonized and quality assured, but also the evaluation of human biomonitoring data. For the health-related interpretation of the data within HBM4EU, a strategy for deriving health-based human biomonitoring guidance values (HBM-GVs) for both the general population and workers was agreed on. On this basis, HBM-GVs for exposure biomarkers of 1,2-cyclohexane dicarboxylic acid diisononyl ester (DINCH), phthalates (diethyl hexyl phthalate (DEHP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP), diisobutyl phthalate (DiBP), butyl benzyl phthalate (BBzP), and bis-(2-propylheptyl) phthalate (DPHP)), bisphenols A and S, pyrethroids (deltamethrin and cyfluthrin), solvents (1-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), 1-ethylpyrrolidin-2-one (NEP), N-dimethylformamide (DMF), N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAC)), the heavy metal cadmium and the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) were developed and assigned a level of confidence. The approach to HBM-GV derivations, results, and limitations in data interpretation with special focus on the pyrethroids are presented in this paper.
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Affiliation(s)
- P Apel
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195, Berlin, Germany.
| | - F Lamkarkach
- French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES), 14 Rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 94701, Maisons-Alfort, Cedex, France
| | - R Lange
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - F Sissoko
- French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES), 14 Rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 94701, Maisons-Alfort, Cedex, France
| | - M David
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - C Rousselle
- French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES), 14 Rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 94701, Maisons-Alfort, Cedex, France
| | - G Schoeters
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research, 2400, Mol, Belgium; Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, 2610, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - M Kolossa-Gehring
- German Environment Agency (UBA), Corrensplatz 1, 14195, Berlin, Germany
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Braun G, Escher BI. Prioritization of mixtures of neurotoxic chemicals for biomonitoring using high-throughput toxicokinetics and mixture toxicity modeling. ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL 2023; 171:107680. [PMID: 36502700 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2022.107680] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2022] [Revised: 12/05/2022] [Accepted: 12/05/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Modern society continues to pollute the environment with larger quantities of chemicals that have also become more structurally and functionally diverse. Risk assessment of chemicals can hardly keep up with the sheer numbers that lead to complex mixtures of increasing chemical diversity including new chemicals, substitution products on top of still abundant legacy compounds. Fortunately, over the last years computational tools have helped us to identify and prioritize chemicals of concern. These include toxicokinetic models to predict exposure to chemicals as well as new approach methodologies such as in-vitro bioassays to address toxicodynamic effects. Combined, they allow for a prediction of mixtures and their respective effects and help overcome the lack of data we face for many chemicals. In this study we propose a high-throughput approach using experimental and predicted exposure, toxicokinetic and toxicodynamic data to simulate mixtures, to which a virtual population is exposed to and predict their mixture effects. The general workflow is adaptable for any type of toxicity, but we demonstrated its applicability with a case study on neurotoxicity. If no experimental data for neurotoxicity were available, we used baseline toxicity predictions as a surrogate. Baseline toxicity is the minimal toxicity any chemical has and might underestimate the true contribution to the mixture effect but many neurotoxicants are not by orders of magnitude more potent than baseline toxicity. Therefore, including baseline-toxic effects in mixture simulations yields a more realistic picture than excluding them in mixture simulations. This workflow did not only correctly identify and prioritize known chemicals of concern like benzothiazoles, organochlorine pesticides and plasticizers but we were also able to identify new potential neurotoxicants that we recommend to include in future biomonitoring studies and if found in humans, to also include in neurotoxicity screening.
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Affiliation(s)
- Georg Braun
- Department of Cell Toxicology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Beate I Escher
- Department of Cell Toxicology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig, Germany; Environmental Toxicology, Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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7
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Socianu S, Bopp SK, Govarts E, Gilles L, Buekers J, Kolossa-Gehring M, Backhaus T, Franco A. Chemical Mixtures in the EU Population: Composition and Potential Risks. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:ijerph19106121. [PMID: 35627658 PMCID: PMC9141134 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19106121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2022] [Revised: 05/09/2022] [Accepted: 05/13/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Regulating chemical mixtures is a complex scientific and policy task. The aim of this study was to investigate typical mixtures and their potential risks based on internal exposure levels in the European population. Based on human biomonitoring (HBM) data made available via the HBM4EU project, we derived generic mixtures representative of a median (P50) and a worst-case scenario (P95) for adults and children. We performed a mixture risk assessment based on HBM concentrations, health-based guidance values (HBGVs) as internal thresholds of concern, and the conservative assumption of concentration addition applied across different toxicological endpoints. Maximum cumulative ratios (MCRs) were calculated to characterize the mixture risk. The mixtures comprise 136 biomarkers for adults and 84 for children, although concentration levels could be quantified only for a fraction of these. Due to limited availability of HBGVs, the mixture risk was assessed for a subset of 20 substance-biomarker pairs for adults and 17 for children. The mixture hazard index ranged from 2.8 (P50, children) to 9.2 (P95, adults). Six to seven substances contributed to over 95% of the total risk. MCR values ranged between 2.6 and 5.5, which is in a similar range as in previous studies based on human external exposures assessments. The limited coverage of substances included in the calculations and the application of a hazard index across toxicological endpoints argue for caution in the interpretation of the results. Nonetheless the analyses of MCR and MAFceiling can help inform a possible mixture assessment factor (MAF) applicable to single substance risk assessment to account for exposure to unintentional mixtures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Socianu
- European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), 21027 Ispra, Italy; (S.S.); (A.F.)
| | - Stephanie K. Bopp
- European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), 21027 Ispra, Italy; (S.S.); (A.F.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +39-0332-789950
| | - Eva Govarts
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium; (E.G.); (L.G.); (J.B.)
| | - Liese Gilles
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium; (E.G.); (L.G.); (J.B.)
| | - Jurgen Buekers
- VITO Health, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium; (E.G.); (L.G.); (J.B.)
| | | | - Thomas Backhaus
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Carl Skottsbergs Gata 22B, 41319 Gothenburg, Sweden;
| | - Antonio Franco
- European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), 21027 Ispra, Italy; (S.S.); (A.F.)
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