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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">exposome</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>Exposome</journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub">2635-2265</issn>
<publisher>
<publisher-name>Oxford University Press</publisher-name>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.1093/exposome/osae008</article-id>
<article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">osae008</article-id>
<article-categories>
<subj-group subj-group-type="category-toc-heading">
<subject>Commentary</subject>
</subj-group>
<subj-group subj-group-type="category-taxonomy-collection">
<subject>AcademicSubjects/MED00280</subject>

<subject>AcademicSubjects/MED00160</subject>
</subj-group>
</article-categories>
<title-group>
<article-title>An evolutionary perspective for the exposome</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group>
<contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes">
<name><surname>Vineis</surname><given-names>Paolo</given-names></name>
<aff>MRC Centre for Environment and Health, School of Public Health, <institution>Imperial College</institution>, London, <country country="GB">United Kingdom</country></aff>
<xref ref-type="corresp" rid="osae008-cor1"/>
<email xlink:type="simple">p.vineis@imperial.ac.uk</email></contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author">
<name><surname>Dagnino</surname><given-names>Sonia</given-names></name>
<aff>MRC Centre for Environment and Health, School of Public Health, <institution>Imperial College</institution>, London, <country country="GB">United Kingdom</country></aff>
<aff><institution>Université Cote d’Azur, Polytech Nice Sophia, Institut Frédéric Joliot—UMR E 4320 TIRO-MATOs—SNC 5050 CNRS - 28</institution>, avenue de Valombrose, 06107, Nice, <country country="FR">France</country></aff>
</contrib>
</contrib-group>
<author-notes>
<corresp id="osae008-cor1">To whom address all correspondence at <email>p.vineis@imperial.ac.uk</email>
</corresp>
</author-notes>
<pub-date pub-type="epub" iso-8601-date="2024-12-04">
<day>04</day>
<month>12</month>
<year>2024</year>
</pub-date>
<elocation-id>osae008</elocation-id>
<history>
<date date-type="received">
<day>04</day>
<month>06</month>
<year>2024</year>
</date>
<date date-type="rev-recd">
<day>20</day>
<month>08</month>
<year>2024</year>
</date>
<date date-type="accepted">
<day>15</day>
<month>10</month>
<year>2024</year>
</date>
</history>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2024</copyright-year>
<license license-type="cc-by-nc" xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">
<license-p>This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (<ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/</ext-link>), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com</license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="osae008.pdf"/>
<abstract abstract-type="abstract">
<title>Abstract</title>
<p>The exposome was proposed following the realization that most human diseases have an environmental rather than a genetic (hereditary) origin. Non-communicable diseases are, in fact, the consequence of multiple exposures that activate a sequence of stages in a multistage process that already starts in early life. This attracted attention to both the multiplicity (in fact, potentially the totality) of exposures humans are exposed to since conception and to the life-long perspective of disease causation. In this paper, we examine an extension of the exposome concept that incorporates a Darwinian approach based on the concept of phenotypic plasticity. One of the theses is that interpreting exposome science as “precision environmental research” is only a partial interpretation, largely focused on chemical exposures, while a broadening of the perspective is needed, also in light of the planetary crisis. Such broadening involves the incorporation of basic concepts from evolutionary biology and medicine, including the ability of organisms to adapt to rapidly changing environments. We refer in particular to cancer and “Darwinian carcinogenesis.”</p>
</abstract>
<kwd-group>
<kwd>Evolutionary theory</kwd>
<kwd>Phenotypic plasticity</kwd>
<kwd>Agnostic research</kwd>
<kwd>Theory-driven research</kwd>
<kwd>Environment</kwd>
<kwd>Human health</kwd>
</kwd-group>
<counts>
<page-count count="17"/>
</counts>
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<meta-name>edited-state</meta-name>
<meta-value>accepted-manuscript</meta-value>
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<meta-name>article-lifecycle</meta-name>
<meta-value>PAP</meta-value>
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</front>
</article>