Hallmarks of Environmental Insults

Overview

Journal Cell

Publisher Cell Press

Specialty Cell Biology

Date 2021 Mar 3

PMID 33657411

Citations 113

Authors

Annette Peters

Tim S Nawrot

Andrea A Baccarelli

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Environmental insults impair human health around the world. Contaminated air, water, soil, food, and occupational and household settings expose humans of all ages to a plethora of chemicals and environmental stressors. We propose eight hallmarks of environmental insults that jointly underpin the damaging impact of environmental exposures during the lifespan. Specifically, they include oxidative stress and inflammation, genomic alterations and mutations, epigenetic alterations, mitochondrial dysfunction, endocrine disruption, altered intercellular communication, altered microbiome communities, and impaired nervous system function. They provide a framework to understand why complex mixtures of environmental exposures induce severe health effects even at relatively modest concentrations.

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