Project description
Role of environmental factors in paediatric liver health
Poor liver health represents a problem with long-term consequences. Elevated levels of liver injury markers and paediatric non-alcoholic fatty liver disease are increasingly reported at young ages in the western world. Funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the LIVER-X project will address the contribution of a complex environment to liver health in childhood and beyond. The project will follow an exposome-wide approach to study environmental impact using biomonitoring and geospatial exposure data collected during pregnancy and childhood, the most vulnerable stages of life. Advanced analysis techniques will provide evidence on the combined and individual effects of multiple environmental factors on liver injury markers in childhood and adolescence.
Objective
LIVER-X addresses an important question: how does the environment impact the developmental origins of liver health and disease?
Poor liver health in childhood represents a major public health problem with long-term consequences. Elevated alanine aminotransferase, a marker of liver injury and screening tool for pediatric non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) risk, is increasingly reported at young ages, currently being detected in almost one out of ten children living in Europe and the western world. Although it is well known that an obesogenic diet and genetic predisposition play a role in the development of liver injury and disease, the contribution of the complex environment in which we grow up and live remains unclear. LIVER-X addresses this knowledge gap. The project will leverage the resources of the population-based HELIX and Generation R cohorts and follow an exposome-wide approach to the study of environmental impact by using rich biomonitoring and geospatial exposure data collected at the vulnerable early stages of the lifecourse (pregnancy and childhood). Advanced analysis techniques will be used to provide novel evidence on the individual and combined effects of a wide array of early-life ubiquitous environmental factors, including industrial chemical pollutants, toxic metals, air pollution, and characteristics of the urban natural and built environment, on liver injury markers in childhood and adolescence. The project will also assess whether children’s diet quality and polygenic risk for NAFLD modify vulnerability to environmental impact, and thus aid in identifying susceptible subpopulations and environmental priorities.
LIVER-X fosters research cooperation across disciplines and knowledge transfer. The project aligns with urgent challenges related to environmental pollution, the urban environment and the health of future generations, and thus its results are expected to be of high relevance for researchers, policy makers, and European citizens.
Fields of science
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencespublic health
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineobstetrics
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesnutrition
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesenvironmental sciencespollution
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicinehepatology
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinator
08036 Barcelona
Spain