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Epigenetics a High Priority in New NIEHS 5-Year Plan
By admin | May 14, 2006
This month, the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), which provides funding for a number of researchers investigating epigenetic alterations, published its 2006-2011 NIEHS Strategic Plan, entitled “New Frontiers in Environmental Sciences and Human Health.” The effort to create the strategic plan was spearheaded by NIEHS director David Schwartz, and was aided in its development by an online survey to the public (~400 respondents) and a strategic planning forum in October 2005 that allowed approximately 90 “invited fundamental and applied scientists and public interest group members” to engage in breakout group discussions on six core topics related to future NIEHS priorities.
Those involved in the strategic planning process recognized three key challenges facing the environmental health sciences field:
- 1. What diseases and what exposures will be the focus of the NIEHS research portfolio? “In general, the NIEHS will set research priorities to focus on diseases for which there is a strong indication of an environmental component and for which there is high or increasing prevalence in the U.S. population. In addition, the NIEHS will focus on exposures that carry the highest risk to the largest population or hold the most promising hope of clarifying an important disease process.”
2. Given the explosion in new science that has occurred in the last decade, how will we focus our research efforts on the most appropriate science for a given disease and the related environmental exposures? “The NIEHS will take a leadership role in improving human health by using environmental exposures to understand human biology and human disease. This vision is a complex one, requiring a change in approach to basic research, moving from our traditional science base of single investigators with a clear hypothesis to integrated research teams addressing the complex hypotheses associated with the interplay of environmental factors with many other factors (e.g., genetics, lifestyle, age, sex) on disease incidence and prognosis.”
3. How will we develop the scientific knowledge that empowers people to improve their environmental choices, allows society to make appropriate public health decisions, and results in our living healthier lives? “The ways in which environmental agents increase disease risks for an individual are still poorly understood. As the NIEHS moves forward, we are committed to supporting the basic research that drives the scientific basis for health decisions, as well as the applied research that fills gaps in our understanding of environmental health risks.”
- 1. Expand the role of clinical research in environmental health sciences. One important area with high priority will be epigenetics, where environmental influences might have a particularly strong impact.
2. Use environmental toxicants to understand basic mechanisms in human biology.
3. Build integrated environmental health research programs to address the cross- cutting problems in human biology and human disease.
4. Improve and expand community-linked research.
5. Develop sensitive markers of environmental exposure, early (preclinical) biological response, and genetic susceptibility.
6. Recruit and train the next generation of environmental health scientists.
7. Foster the development of partnerships between the NIEHS and other NIH institutes, national and international research agencies, academia, industry, and community organizations to improve human health.
- A dynamic interplay exists between the input received from the extra- cellular environment and the expression of genes within a cell. Integration of the key cellular signals to produce very specific genomic responses is essential to proper cellular function and disease avoidance. Environmental signals can alter the functioning of genes in many ways, both directly and indirectly. Epigenetics refers to a group of mechanisms that regulate patterns of inheritance and gene expression without changing DNA sequences and that are potentially crucial in the interface between genes, environment, and disease. These mechanisms include, but are not limited to, DNA methylation, imprinting, and histone acetylation and post-translational modifications. The overall impact of environmental changes on these mechanisms remains poorly understood, yet the consequences of modifying them can result in an increased risk of developing cancer, immunologic diseases, and other complex diseases.
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