Using the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database to Understand the Impact of High-Risk Toxicants on Biological Pathways

The role of environmental contaminant exposure in the development of a broad suite of human diseases has been well established. An understanding of the biological mechanisms through which these diverse and prevalent toxicants cause toxicity would be beneficial to both public health and clinical medicine. Here, we used a systematic analysis of data available from the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database to explore known toxicant-gene-disease interactions for 83 high-priority toxicants, as ranked by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Research. Rankings of toxicant-pathway associations identified specific biological pathways enriched for disruption by numerous toxicants such as the Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) pathway. These results present a novel approach to identify and prioritize biological pathways of particular relevance to high-priority environmental contaminants.Master of Science in Public Healt