Early-life oxidative stress due to air pollution. A scoping review focusing on identifying potential ‘-OMICS’ biomarkers from body fluids

Exposure to air pollution (AP) is inevitable in daily life and an increasing number of epidemiological studies have reported that exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) is associated with adverse health outcomes. Intrauterine, childhood, and adolescence are vulnerable periods, during which PM exposure can cause molecular changes, potentially leading to changes in metabolism and development. PM-induced oxidative stress is the underlying mechanism. Biomarkers can be used as illustrative measures of PM exposure to facilitate the assessment of potential health effects and provide a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms. The purpose of this scoping review is to report -OMICS biomarkers found in body fluids that are primarily related to oxidative stress and are already used to evaluate ambient AP exposure, as well as to identify knowledge gaps. Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus databases were independently searched for all studies published between January 2013 and December 2022 that reported on -OMICS signature changes during pregnancy, childhood, and adolescence. Of the initial 757 articles, 36 met our inclusion criteria and reported on genomic, epigenomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, lipidomic, and metabolomic biomarkers. The findings of this scoping review indicate that exposure to various ambient pollutants in early life can cause oxidative stress. Integrating biomarkers from top-down -OMICS studies in an epidemiological context may provide a clear picture of the biomarker selection process to establish a causal relationship between PM exposure and disease pathogenesis. This knowledge could lead to the conceptualization and subsequent development of novel preventative strategies.