The concept of the Exposome, is a compilation of diseases and one’s lifetime exposure to chemicals, whether the exposure comes from environmental, dietary, or occupational exposures; or endogenous chemicals that are formed from normal metabolism, inflammation, oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, infections, and other natural metabolic processes such as alteration of the gut microbiome. In this review, we have focused on the Endogenous Exposome, the DNA damage that arises from the production of endogenous electrophilic molecules in our cells. It provides quantitative data on endogenous DNA damage and its relationship to mutagenesis, with emphasis on when exogenous chemical exposures that produce identical DNA adducts to those arising from normal metabolism cause significant increases in total identical DNA adducts. We have utilized stable isotope labeled chemical exposures of animals and cells, so that accurate relationships between endogenous and exogenous exposures can be determined. Advances in mass spectrometry have vastly increased both the sensitivity and accuracy of such studies. Furthermore, we have clear evidence of which sources of exposure drive low dose biology that results in mutations and disease. These data provide much needed information to impact quantitative risk assessments, in the hope of moving towards the use of science, rather than default assumptions.

Background:Emissions from solid fuels used for cooking cause ~4 million premature deaths per year. Advanced solid-fuel cookstoves are a potential solution, but they should be assessed by appropriate performance indicators, including biological effects.Objective:We evaluated two categories of solid-fuel cookstoves for eight pollutant and four mutagenicity emission factors, correlated the mutagenicity emission factors, and compared them to those of other combustion emissions.Methods:We burned red oak in a 3-stone fire (TSF), a natural-draft stove (NDS), and a forced-draft stove (FDS), and we combusted propane as a liquified petroleum gas control fuel. We determined emission factors based on useful energy (megajoules delivered, MJd) for carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides (NOx), black carbon, methane, total hydrocarbons, 32 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PM2.5, levoglucosan (a wood-smoke marker), and mutagenicity in Salmonella.Results:With the exception of NOx, the emission factors per MJd were highly correlated (r ≥ 0.97); the correlation for NOx with the other emission factors was 0.58–0.76. Excluding NOx, the NDS and FDS reduced the emission factors an average of 68 and 92%, respectively, relative to the TSF. Nevertheless, the mutagenicity emission factor based on fuel energy used (MJthermal) for the most efficient stove (FDS) was between those of a large diesel bus engine and a small diesel generator.Conclusions:Both mutagenicity and pollutant emission factors may be informative for characterizing cookstove performance. However, mutagenicity emission factors may be especially useful for characterizing potential health effects and should be evaluated in relation to health outcomes in future research. An FDS operated as intended by the manufacturer is safer than a TSF, but without adequate ventilation, it will still result in poor indoor air quality.Citation:Mutlu E, Warren SH, Ebersviller SM, Kooter IM, Schmid JE, Dye JA, Linak WP, Gilmour MI, Jetter JJ, Higuchi M, DeMarini DM. 2016. Mutagenicity and pollutant emission factors of solid-fuel cookstoves: comparison with other combustion sources. Environ Health Perspect 124:974–982; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1509852

Platinum chemotherapeutic agents have been widely used in the treatment of cancer. Cisplatin was the first of the platinum based chemotherapeutic agents and therefore has been extensively studied as an anti-tumor agent since the late 1960s. Because this agent forms several DNA adducts, a highly sensitive and specific quantitative assay is needed to correlate the molecular dose of individual adducts with the effects of treatment. An ultra performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) assay for quantification of 1,2 guanine-guanine intrastrand cisplatin adducts [CP-d(GpG)], using 15 N 10 CP-d(GpG) as an internal standard, was developed. The internal standard was characterized by MS/MS and its concentration was validated by ICP-MS. Samples containing CP-d(GpG) in DNA were purified by enzyme hydrolysis , centrifugal filtration and HPLC with fraction collection prior to quantification by UPLC-MS/MS in the selective reaction monitoring (SRM) mode (m/z 412.5→248.1 for CP-d(GpG); m/z 417.5→253.1 for [ 15 N 10 ] CP-d(GpG)). Recovery of standards was >90% and quantification was unaffected by increasing concentrations of calf thymus DNA. This method utilizes 25 μg of DNA per injection. The limit of quantification was 3 fmol or 3.7 adducts per 10 8 nucleotides, which approaches the sensitivity of the 32 P postlabeling method for this adduct. These data suggested that this method is suitable for in vitro and in vivo assessment of CP-d(GpG) adducts formed by cisplatin and carboplatin. Subsequently the method was applied to studies using ovarian carcinoma cell lines and C57/BL6 mice to illustrate that this method is capable of quantifying CP-d(GpG) adducts using biologically relevant systems and doses. The development of biomarkers to determine tissue-specific molecular dosimetry during treatment will lead to a more complete understanding of both therapeutic and adverse effects of cisplatin and carboplatin. This will support the refinement of therapeutic regimes and appropriate individualized treatment protocols.

Pentabromodiphenyl ethers (PBDE) are found in human tissue, in household dust, and in the environment, and a particular concern is the potential for the induction of cancer pathways from these fat-soluble persistent organic pollutants. Only one PBDE cancer study has been conducted and that was for a PBDE mixture (DE-71). Because it is not feasible to test all PBDE congeners in the environment for cancer potential, it is important to develop a set of biological endpoints that can be used in short-term toxicity studies to predict disease outcome after long-term exposures. In this study, PBDE-47 was selected as the test PBDE congener to evaluate and compare toxicity to that of the carcinogenic PBDE mixture. The toxicities of PBDE-47 and the PBDE mixture were evaluated at PND 22 in Wistar Han rat (Crl: WI (Han)) pups after in utero/postnatal exposure (0, 0.1, 15, or 50 mg/kg; dams, GD6-21; pups, PND 12-PND 21; oral gavage daily dosing). By PND 22, PBDE-47 caused centrilobular hypertrophy and fatty change in liver, and reduced serum thyroxin (T) levels; similar effects were also observed after PBDE mixture exposure. Transcriptomic changes in the liver included induction of cytochrome p450 transcripts and up-regulation of Nrf2 antioxidant pathway transcripts and ABC membrane transport transcripts. Decreases in other transport transcripts (ABCG5 & 8) provided a plausible mechanism for lipid accumulation, characterized by a treatment-related liver fatty change after PBDE-47 and PBDE mixture exposure. The benchmark dose calculation based on liver transcriptomic data was generally lower for PBDE-47 than for the PBDE mixture. The up-regulation of the Nrf2 antioxidant pathway and changes in metabolic transcripts after PBDE-47 and PBDE mixture exposure suggest that PBDE-47, like the PBDE mixture (NTP 2016, TR 589), could be a liver toxin/carcinogen after long-term exposure.

Graphical abstract

A 5-day in vivo rat model was evaluated as an approach to estimate chemical exposures that may pose minimal risk by comparing benchmark dose (BMD) values for transcriptional changes in the liver and kidney to BMD values for toxicological endpoints from traditional toxicity studies. Eighteen chemicals, most having been tested by the NTP in 2-year bioassays, were evaluated. Some of these chemicals are potent hepatotoxicants (e.g. DE71, PFOA, and furan) in rodents, some exhibit toxicity but have minimal hepatic effects (e.g. acrylamide and α,β-thujone), and some exhibit little overt toxicity (e.g. ginseng and milk thistle extract) based on traditional toxicological evaluations. Male Sprague Dawley rats were exposed once daily for 5 consecutive days by oral gavage to 8-10 dose levels for each chemical. Liver and kidney were collected 24 hours after the final exposure and total RNA was assayed using HTT with the rat S1500+ platform. HTT data were analyzed using BMD Express 2 to determine transcriptional gene set BMD values. BMDS was used to determine BMD values for histopathological effects from chronic or sub-chronic toxicity studies. For many of the chemicals, the lowest transcriptional BMDs from the 5-day assays were within a factor of 5 of the lowest histopathological BMDs from the toxicity studies. These data suggest that using HTT in a 5-day in vivo rat model provides reasonable estimates of BMD values for traditional apical endpoints. This approach may be useful to prioritize chemicals for further testing while providing actionable data in a timely and cost-effective manner.

No abstract

In the 1970s exposure to vinyl chloride (VC) was shown to cause liver angiosarcoma in VC workers. We have developed a new LC-MS/MS method for analyzing the promutagenic DNA adduct N2,3-ethenoguanine (εG) and have applied this to DNA from tissues of both adult and weanling rats exposed to 1100 ppm [13C2]-VC for 5 days or 1100 ppm VC for 1 day. This assay utilizes neutral thermal hydrolysis and an HPLC clean-up prior to quantitation by LC-MS/MS. The number of endogenous and exogenous εG adducts in DNA from tissues of adult rats exposed to [13C2]-VC for 5 days was 4.1±2.8 adducts/108 guanine of endogenous and 19.0±4.9 adducts/108 guanine of exogenous εG in liver, 8.4±2.8 adducts/108 guanine of endogenous and 7.4±0.5 adducts/108 guanine of exogenous εG in lung and 5.9±3.3 adducts/108 guanine of endogenous and 5.7±2.1 adducts/108 guanine of exogenous εG in kidney (n=4). Additionally, the data from weanling rats demonstrated higher numbers of exogenous εG, with ~4 fold higher amounts in liver DNA of weanlings (75.9±17.9 adducts/108 guanine) in comparison to adult rats and ~2 fold higher amounts in lung (15.8±3.6 adducts/108 guanine) and kidney (12.9±0.4 adducts/108 guanine) (n=8). The use of stable isotope labeled VC permitted accurate estimates of the half life of εG for the first time by comparing [13C2]-εG in adult rats with identically exposed animals killed 2, 4 or 8 weeks later. The half life of εG was found to be 150 days in liver and lung and 75 days in kidney, suggesting little or no active repair of this promutagenic adduct.