Genes and the environment: their impact on children's health.

Abstract

Because the human population is biologically diverse and genetically heterogeneous, it is not surprising that differences in susceptibility to disease among individuals with or without exposure to environmental agents exist. Individuals vary greatly in their susceptibility to disease. This is true of adults and children. The etiologies of many diseases of childhood are due to a combination of factors, including genetic susceptibility and environmental exposures during vulnerable periods of ,development. Genes regulate cellular growth and development, DNA replication and repair, the metabolism of endogenous agents in the body, and the metabolism and excretion of exogenous agents that the body comes in contact with in the environment. This regulation varies over the life span, contributing to the cellular consequences of the environmental exposures. This paper summarizes the contributions of genetics in understanding the etiology of environmentally induced diseases in children. The use of biomarkers of genetic susceptibility in the study of these diseases will be discussed. Future research needs for expanding our knowledge of the interactions between genetic and environmental components of childhood diseases will be presented.Environ Health Perspect 106(Suppl 3):817-820 (1998). http://ehpnetl.niehs.nih.gov/docs/ 1998/Suppl-3/81 7-820suk/abstract.html

The origin, fate, and health effects of combustion by-products: a research framework.

“…Environmental health researchers have determined that most human disease results from a combination of environmental exposures and genetic variation (20,21). However, it is not fully understood why certain people develop disease when challenged with environmental agents and others remain healthy.…”

Parental exposure, adverse pregnancy and offspring effects - perspectives in developmental epidemiolgy

“…The rationale for interaction is the hypothesis that allelic subtypes of genes that play a role in genetic or metabolic regulation influence the individual's susceptibility towards environmental agents. More recently, this interest has been extended to developmental effects as well (47). The discovery of periconceptional folic acid deficiency as a preventable cause of neural tube defects (48,49), and the investigations that followed on the role of allelic subtypes in folic acid metabolism (50,51) boosted further birth defect studies.…”

Delta-Aminolevulinic Acid Dehydratase (Alad) Genetic Polymorphism in Turkish Population : Türk Populasyonunda Delta-Ami̇nolevuli̇ni̇k Asi̇t Dehi̇drataz (Alad) Geneti̇k Poli̇morfi̇zmi̇

“…The allele differ by a single base pair change, a guanine to cytosine transversion of coding nucleotide 177, which predicts the substitution of an asparagine for a lysine in the enzyme (15). In addition to human, the ALAD cDNAs for the mouse, rat, and Escherichia coli enzymes have been isolated and sequenced (18, 19 20).…”