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Sobus JR, DeWoskin RS, Tan YM, Pleil JD, Phillips MB, George BJ, Christensen K, Schreinemachers DM, Williams MA, Hubal EAC, Edwards SW. Uses of NHANES Biomarker Data for Chemical Risk Assessment: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES 2015; 123:919-27. [PMID: 25859901 PMCID: PMC4590763 DOI: 10.1289/ehp.1409177] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2014] [Accepted: 04/01/2015] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Each year, the U.S. NHANES measures hundreds of chemical biomarkers in samples from thousands of study participants. These biomarker measurements are used to establish population reference ranges, track exposure trends, identify population subsets with elevated exposures, and prioritize research needs. There is now interest in further utilizing the NHANES data to inform chemical risk assessments. OBJECTIVES This article highlights a) the extent to which U.S. NHANES chemical biomarker data have been evaluated, b) groups of chemicals that have been studied, c) data analysis approaches and challenges, and d) opportunities for using these data to inform risk assessments. METHODS A literature search (1999-2013) was performed to identify publications in which U.S. NHANES data were reported. Manual curation identified only the subset of publications that clearly utilized chemical biomarker data. This subset was evaluated for chemical groupings, data analysis approaches, and overall trends. RESULTS A small percentage of the sampled NHANES-related publications reported on chemical biomarkers (8% yearly average). Of 11 chemical groups, metals/metalloids were most frequently evaluated (49%), followed by pesticides (9%) and environmental phenols (7%). Studies of multiple chemical groups were also common (8%). Publications linking chemical biomarkers to health metrics have increased dramatically in recent years. New studies are addressing challenges related to NHANES data interpretation in health risk contexts. CONCLUSIONS This article demonstrates growing use of NHANES chemical biomarker data in studies that can impact risk assessments. Best practices for analysis and interpretation must be defined and adopted to allow the full potential of NHANES to be realized.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jon R Sobus
- National Exposure Research Laboratory, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA
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Gross SA, Fedak KM. Applying a Weight-of-Evidence Approach to Evaluate Relevance of Molecular Landscapes in the Exposure-Disease Paradigm. BIOMED RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2015; 2015:515798. [PMID: 26339619 PMCID: PMC4538402 DOI: 10.1155/2015/515798] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2014] [Accepted: 03/16/2015] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
Information on polymorphisms, mutations, and epigenetic events has become increasingly important in our understanding of molecular mechanisms associated with exposures-disease outcomes. Molecular landscapes can be developed to illustrate the molecular characteristics for environmental carcinogens as well as associated disease outcomes, although comparison of these molecular landscapes can often be difficult to navigate. We developed a method to organize these molecular data that uses a weight-of-evidence approach to rank overlapping molecular events by relative importance for susceptibility to an exposure-disease paradigm. To illustrate the usefulness of this approach, we discuss the example of benzene as an environmental carcinogen and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) as a causative disease endpoint. Using this weight-of-evidence method, we found overlapping polymorphisms in the genes for the metabolic enzymes GST and NQO1, both of which may infer risk of benzene-induced MDS. Polymorphisms in the tumor suppressor gene, TP53, and the inflammatory cytokine gene, TNF-α, were also noted, albeit inferring opposing outcomes. The alleles identified in the DNA repair gene RAD51 indicated an increased risk for MDS in MDS patients and low blood cell counts in benzene-exposed workers. We propose the weight-of-evidence approach as a tool to assist in organizing the sea of emerging molecular data in exposure-disease paradigms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sherilyn A. Gross
- Cardno ChemRisk, 4840 Pearl East Circle 300 W., Boulder, CO 80304, USA
| | - Kristen M. Fedak
- Department of Environmental & Radiological Health Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
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LaKind JS, Sobus JR, Goodman M, Barr DB, Fürst P, Albertini RJ, Arbuckle TE, Schoeters G, Tan YM, Teeguarden J, Tornero-Velez R, Weisel CP. A proposal for assessing study quality: Biomonitoring, Environmental Epidemiology, and Short-lived Chemicals (BEES-C) instrument. ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL 2014; 73:195-207. [PMID: 25137624 PMCID: PMC4310547 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2014.07.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2014] [Revised: 07/12/2014] [Accepted: 07/16/2014] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
The quality of exposure assessment is a major determinant of the overall quality of any environmental epidemiology study. The use of biomonitoring as a tool for assessing exposure to ubiquitous chemicals with short physiologic half-lives began relatively recently. These chemicals present several challenges, including their presence in analytical laboratories and sampling equipment, difficulty in establishing temporal order in cross-sectional studies, short- and long-term variability in exposures and biomarker concentrations, and a paucity of information on the number of measurements required for proper exposure classification. To date, the scientific community has not developed a set of systematic guidelines for designing, implementing and interpreting studies of short-lived chemicals that use biomonitoring as the exposure metric or for evaluating the quality of this type of research for WOE assessments or for peer review of grants or publications. We describe key issues that affect epidemiology studies using biomonitoring data on short-lived chemicals and propose a systematic instrument--the Biomonitoring, Environmental Epidemiology, and Short-lived Chemicals (BEES-C) instrument--for evaluating the quality of research proposals and studies that incorporate biomonitoring data on short-lived chemicals. Quality criteria for three areas considered fundamental to the evaluation of epidemiology studies that include biological measurements of short-lived chemicals are described: 1) biomarker selection and measurement, 2) study design and execution, and 3) general epidemiological study design considerations. We recognize that the development of an evaluative tool such as BEES-C is neither simple nor non-controversial. We hope and anticipate that the instrument will initiate further discussion/debate on this topic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Judy S LaKind
- LaKind Associates, LLC 106 Oakdale Avenue, Catonsville, MD 21228, USA; Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Penn State University College of Medicine, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, USA.
| | - Jon R Sobus
- National Exposure Research Laboratory, Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA.
| | - Michael Goodman
- Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Rd., Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
| | - Dana Boyd Barr
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Road, NE, Room 272, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
| | - Peter Fürst
- Chemical and Veterinary Analytical Institute, Münsterland-Emscher-Lippe (CVUA-MEL) Joseph-König-Straße 40, D-48147, Münster D-48151, Germany.
| | - Richard J Albertini
- University of Vermont College of Medicine, P.O. Box 168, Underhill Center, VT 05490, USA.
| | - Tye E Arbuckle
- Population Studies Division, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Health Canada, 50 Colombine Dr., A.L. 0801A, Ottawa, ON K1A 0K9, Canada.
| | - Greet Schoeters
- Environmental Risk and Health Unit, VITO, Industriezone Vlasmeer 7, 2400 Mol, Belgium; University of Antwerp, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Belgium.
| | - Yu-Mei Tan
- National Exposure Research Laboratory, Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA.
| | - Justin Teeguarden
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Boulevard, P.O. Box 999, MSIN P7-59, Richland, WA 99352, USA.
| | - Rogelio Tornero-Velez
- National Exposure Research Laboratory, Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA.
| | - Clifford P Weisel
- Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, UMDNJ, 170 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
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