About this Research Topic
This Research Topic is Part 1 of 2 and the continuation of the discussion can be viewed here Mass Spectrometry for Adductomic Analysis - Part 2.
To investigate the environmental causes of disease, efficient and unbiased methods are required to characterize the human exposome that represents all toxicants to which people are exposed, from both exogenous and endogenous sources. Generally, toxicants are electrophiles that can directly bind to DNA/RNA and proteins, forming adducts. Therefore, these electrophiles are arguably the most important constituents of the exposome. However, because the electrophiles are reactive, with a short lifespan, it is difficult to measure them directly in vivo. Alternatively, the levels of reactive electrophiles in the body can be inferred from the adduct concentrations in the DNA/RNA in cells and prominent blood proteins (e.g. hemoglobin and albumin).
In recent years, adductomics have begun to emerge as a new “omics” tool that aims to study the totality of covalent adducts bound to tissue/blood nucleophiles, developed as a basis for characterizing essentially all reactive electrophiles in biospecimens. Adductomics technology and methodology allow top-down adductome mapping, enabling the potential discovery of yet-unknown adduct biomarkers in different biological samples, and contributing to our understanding and assessment of the exposome. Mass spectrometry (MS) is deemed to be the most promising technique for adductomic approaches, offering excellent specificity and reproducibility, with the advantages of using stable, isotopically-labeled internal standards, and the ability to perform structure elucidation.
This Research Topic aims to highlight recent advancements and challenges in MS-based adductomics within biological matrices, and further adductomic approaches to the study of the exposome in health and disease. We welcome submissions of both original research and review/perspective articles that contribute, but are not limited, to the development of new methodologies and applications in adductomics, surrounding the following topics:
1. New approaches for adduct screening and identification
2. Improvement in sample preparation/cleanup for adductomic analysis
3. Discovery of novel adducts
4. Development of MS-based adductomics: data analysis methods and data integration frameworks
To investigate the environmental causes of disease, efficient and unbiased methods are required to characterize the human exposome that represents all toxicants to which people are exposed, from both exogenous and endogenous sources. Generally, toxicants are electrophiles that can directly bind to DNA/RNA and proteins, forming adducts. Therefore, these electrophiles are arguably the most important constituents of the exposome. However, because the electrophiles are reactive, with a short lifespan, it is difficult to measure them directly in vivo. Alternatively, the levels of reactive electrophiles in the body can be inferred from the adduct concentrations in the DNA/RNA in cells and prominent blood proteins (e.g. hemoglobin and albumin).
In recent years, adductomics have begun to emerge as a new “omics” tool that aims to study the totality of covalent adducts bound to tissue/blood nucleophiles, developed as a basis for characterizing essentially all reactive electrophiles in biospecimens. Adductomics technology and methodology allow top-down adductome mapping, enabling the potential discovery of yet-unknown adduct biomarkers in different biological samples, and contributing to our understanding and assessment of the exposome. Mass spectrometry (MS) is deemed to be the most promising technique for adductomic approaches, offering excellent specificity and reproducibility, with the advantages of using stable, isotopically-labeled internal standards, and the ability to perform structure elucidation.
This Research Topic aims to highlight recent advancements and challenges in MS-based adductomics within biological matrices, and further adductomic approaches to the study of the exposome in health and disease. We welcome submissions of both original research and review/perspective articles that contribute, but are not limited, to the development of new methodologies and applications in adductomics, surrounding the following topics:
1. New approaches for adduct screening and identification
2. Improvement in sample preparation/cleanup for adductomic analysis
3. Discovery of novel adducts
4. Development of MS-based adductomics: data analysis methods and data integration frameworks
Keywords: adductomics, covalent adducts, electrophilic species, exposome, mass spectrometry
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