Toxicogenomics and Toxicological Mechanisms of Engineered Nanomaterials

Abstract

The unique and excellent physicochemical properties of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) make them attractive materials and useful tools in many industrial and biomedical applications, which has led to a rapid increase in their manufacturing and consequent release to the environment. However, the extensive use of ENMs has raised concerns over their potential toxicological impact on human health and ecosystems. The earlier studies that investigated ENM toxicity relied mainly on conventional toxicological methods by studying the histological and cytological changes, but there has been robust interest in utilizing new technologies, such as omics approaches, to investigate in order to understand and predict ENM toxicity on a global genome-wide scale. Toxicogenomics can facilitate studying the mechanisms of toxicity at the molecular level by analyzing the genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, epigenomics, and metabolomics responses after ENM exposure. Here, we highlight some of the toxicological effects of ENMs through genomics and transcriptomics studies in different models and their impacts on DNA, gene expression, and crucial cellular pathways.