Background

Fetal development is a crucial window of susceptibility in which exposure-related alterations can be induced on the molecular level, leading to potential changes in metabolism and development. The placenta serves as a gatekeeper between mother and fetus, and is in contact with environmental stressors throughout pregnancy. This makes the placenta as a temporary organ an informative non-invasive matrix suitable to investigate omics-related aberrations in association with in utero exposures such as ambient air pollution.

Objectives

To summarize and discuss the current evidence and define the gaps of knowledge concerning human placental -omics markers in association with prenatal exposure to ambient air pollution.

Methods

Two investigators independently searched the PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Scopus databases to identify all studies published until January 2017 with an emphasis on epidemiological research on prenatal exposure to ambient air pollution and the effect on placental -omics signatures.

Results

From the initial 386 articles, 25 were retained following an a priori set inclusion and exclusion criteria. We identified eleven studies on the genome, two on the transcriptome, five on the epigenome, five on the proteome category, one study with both genomic and proteomic topics, and one study with both genomic and transcriptomic topics. Six studies discussed the triple relationship between exposure to air pollution during pregnancy, the associated placental -omics marker(s), and the potential effect on disease development later in life. So far, no metabolomic or exposomic data discussing associations between the placenta and prenatal exposure to air pollution have been published.

Conclusions

Integration of placental biomarkers in an environmental epidemiological context enables researchers to address fundamental questions essential in unraveling the fetal origin of disease and helps to better define the pregnancy exposome of air pollution.

中文翻译：

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空气污染与胎儿疾病的起源：对人类胎盘中空气污染暴露的分子特征的系统评价

背景

胎儿发育是易感性的重要窗口，在该窗口中，可以在分子水平上诱导与暴露相关的改变，从而导致代谢和发育的潜在变化。胎盘在母亲和胎儿之间起着看门人的作用，并且在整个怀孕过程中都与环境应激源接触。这使胎盘作为一个临时器官成为一种信息丰富的非侵入性基质，适用于研究与子宫内暴露（例如环境空气污染）相关的与组学相关的畸变。

目标

总结和讨论当前的证据，并定义与胎盘组学标志物相关的知识差距，以及与产前暴露于环境空气污染相关的知识。

方法

两名研究人员独立搜索了PubMed，ScienceDirect和Scopus数据库，以确认所有发表至2017年1月的研究，重点是关于产前暴露于环境空气污染及其对胎盘组学特征的影响的流行病学研究。

结果

最初的386篇文章中，有25篇是按照先验的纳入和排除标准保留的。我们确定了11个关于基因组的研究，两个关于转录组的研究，五个关于表观基因组的研究，五个关于蛋白质组学的研究，一项涉及基因组和蛋白质组学的研究，以及一项涉及基因组和转录组学的研究。六项研究讨论了怀孕期间暴露于空气污染，相关的胎盘组学标志物以及对生命后期疾病发展的潜在影响之间的三重关系。到目前为止，尚未发表有关胎盘与产前暴露于空气污染之间的关联的代谢组学或暴露学数据。

结论

在环境流行病学背景下整合胎盘生物标志物，使研究人员能够解决基本的问题，以阐明胎儿的疾病起源，并有助于更好地确定空气污染的妊娠途径。