The Parental Pesticide and Offspring's Epigenome Study: Towards an Integrated Use of Human Biomonitoring of Exposure and Effect Biomarkers.

Aziza Menouni,Samir El Jaafari,Peter Hoet,Sara Pauwels,Matteo Creta,Imane Berni,Noura Zouine,Jeroen Vanoirbeeck,Tara Sabo Attwood,Paul Janssen,Katrien Poels,Dina Akroute,Manosij Ghosh,Ilham Lhilali,Marie-Paule Kestemont,Lode Godderis,Brahim El Ghazi,Radu Corneliu Duca,Mohamed Khouchoua

doi:10.3390/toxics9120332

Abstract

In Morocco, due to the lack of education and the presence of a counterfeit market, pesticides constitute a major problem to be addressed by occupational and environmental health agencies. This paper aims to introduce the PaPOE (Parental Pesticides and Offspring Epigenome) prospective study and its goals, to motivate the study rationale and design, and to examine comprehensively whether multi-residue exposure to commonly used pesticides could induce epigenetic alterations through the oxidative stress pathway. The PaPOE project includes a cross-sectional study assessing the occupational exposure among 300 farmworkers in Meknes, and initiates a birth cohort of 1000 pregnant women. Data and biological samples are collected among farmworkers, and throughout pregnancy, and at birth. Oxidative stress biomarkers include Glutathione, Malondialdehyde, and 8-OHdG. Global and gene-specific DNA methylation is assessed. The study began enrollment in 2019 and is ongoing. As of 30 June 2021, 300 farmworkers and 125 pregnant women have enrolled. The results are expected to showcase the importance of biomonitoring for understanding individual risks, and to identify a number of regions where DNA methylation status is altered in the pesticides-exposed population, paving the way for an integrated biomonitoring system in Morocco and Africa to assess environmental exposures and their long-term health consequences.

Highlights

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a pesticide is defined as a chemical or biological agent or mixture of agents used for the prevention, control, or extermination of pests
The findings are expected to reveal significant changes in DNA methylation related to pesticides exposure
This study will place a strong focus on early molecular mechanisms to bridge the gap between pesticides exposure and disease and to identify cancer biomarkers for the detection of inheritable changes

Summary

Introduction

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a pesticide is defined as a chemical or biological agent or mixture of agents used for the prevention, control, or extermination of pests. A growing body of evidence shows that some pesticides might be considered as carcinogens in occupational [9], para-occupational, and/or domestic environments, and are associated with an increased incidence of breast cancer [4,10,11], prostate cancer [3,12,13], bladder cancer [5,10], Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma [11], and even childhood tumors [12,13,14,15]. This increased risk of cancer following pesticides exposure calls for a more focused effort to understand the mechanisms involved, in order to expand the current knowledge of pesticides carcinogenicity and for better hazard identification

Methods

Results

Conclusion