An exposomic framework to uncover environmental drivers of aging

Abstract

The exposome, the environmental complement of the genome, is an omics level characterization of an individual's exposures. There is growing interest in uncovering the role of the environment in human health using an exposomic framework that provides a systematic and unbiased analysis of the non-genetic drivers of health and disease. Many environmental toxicants are associated with molecular hallmarks of aging. An exposomic framework has potential to advance understanding of these associations and how modifications to the environment can promote healthy aging in the population. However, few studies have used this framework to study biological aging. We provide an overview of approaches and challenges in using an exposomic framework to investigate environmental drivers of aging. While capturing exposures over a life course is a daunting and expensive task, the use of historical data can be a practical way to approach this research.

Keywords: aging; exposome; hallmarks of aging; measuring the exposome; population-based studies of aging.

Figure 1.

A selection of environmental exposures and hallmarks of aging. The nine hallmarks of aging represent common mechanisms of biological aging in the mammalian context. The inner most gray circle illustrates these hallmarks of aging. In the outer circle, icons represent environmental exposures that have been associated with each corresponding hallmark of aging. Each category can comprise of multiple exposures and are grouped due to similarity in: source, use, chemical structure or properties, or associated health effects. Created with BioRender.com

Figure 2.

Data sources for exposure assessment. For each exposure that has been associated with hallmarks of aging listed in the first column, the corresponding source of exposure data is represented by icons along the row. Created with BioRender.com