Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Public Library of Science
Résumé : International audience
BACKGROUND: Studies relating long-term exposure to persistent organochlorine pollutants (POPs) with endocrine activities (endocrine disrupting chemicals) on circulating levels of steroid hormones have been limited to a small number of hormones and reported conflicting results. OBJECTIVE: We examined the relationship between serum concentrations of dehydroepiandrosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate, androstenedione, androstenediol, testosterone, free and bioavailable testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, estrone, estrone sulphate, estradiol, sex-hormone binding globulin, follicle-stimulating hormone, and luteinizing hormone as a function of level of exposure to three POPs known to interfere with hormone-regulated processes in different way: dichlorodiphenyl dichloroethene (DDE), polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congener 153, and chlordecone. METHODS: We collected fasting, morning serum samples from 277 healthy, non obese, middle-aged men from the French West Indies. Steroid hormones were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, except for dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate, which was determined by immunological assay, as were the concentrations of sex-hormone binding globulin, follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone. Associations were assessed by multiple linear regression analysis, controlling for confounding factors, in a backward elimination procedure, in multiple bootstrap samples. RESULTS: DDE exposure was negatively associated to dihydrotestosterone level and positively associated to luteinizing hormone level. PCB 153 was positively associated to androstenedione and estrone levels. No association was found for chlordecone. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggested that the endocrine response pattern, estimated by determining blood levels of steroid hormones, varies depending on the POPs studied, possibly reflecting differences in the modes of action generally attributed to these compounds. It remains to be investigated whether this response pattern is predictive of the subsequent occurrence of disease.
ISSN: 1932-6203

hal-00876025
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00876025
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00876025/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00876025/file/Persistent_Organochlorine-accepted.pdf
DOI : 10.1371/journal.pone.0066460

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press
Résumé : International audience
The BioMart Community Portal (www.biomart.org) is a community-driven effort to provide a unified interface to biomedical databases that are distributed worldwide. The portal provides access to numerous database projects supported by 30 scientific organizations. It includes over 800 different biological datasets spanning genomics, proteomics, model organisms, cancer data, ontology information and more. All resources available through the portal are independently administered and funded by their host organizations. The BioMart data federation technology provides a unified interface to all the available data. The latest version of the portal comes with many new databases that have been created by our ever-growing community. It also comes with better support and extensibility for data analysis and visualization tools. A new addition to our toolbox, the enrichment analysis tool is now accessible through graphical and web service interface. The BioMart community portal averages over one million requests per day. Building on this level of service and the wealth of information that has become available, the BioMart Community Portal has introduced a new, more scalable and cheaper alternative to the large data stores maintained by specialized organizations.
ISSN: 0305-1048

hal-01146849
https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01146849
DOI : 10.1093/nar/gkv350
PUBMED : 25897122

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD SPRINGER
Résumé : International audience
A key question in evolutionary biology is the reproducibility of adaptation. This question can now be quantitatively analyzed using experimental evolution coupled to whole genome sequencing (WGS). With complete sequence data, one can assess convergence among replicate populations. In turn, convergence reflects the action of natural selection and also the breadth of the field of possible adaptive solutions. That is, it provides insight into how many genetic solutions or adaptive paths may lead to adaptation in a given environment. Convergence is both a property of an adaptive landscape and, reciprocally, a tool to study that landscape. In this chapter we present the links between convergence and the properties of adaptive landscapes with respect to two types of microbial experimental evolution. The first tries to reconstruct a full adaptive landscape using a handful of carefully identified mutations (the reductionist approach), while the second uses WGS of replicate experiments to infer properties of the adaptive landscape. Reductionist approaches have highlighted the importance of epistasis in shaping the adaptive landscape, but have also uncovered a wide diversity of landscape architectures. The WGS approach has uncovered a very high diversity of beneficial mutations that affect a limited set of genes or functions and also suggests some shortcomings of the reductionist approach. We conclude that convergence may be better defined at an integrated level, such as the genic level or even at a phenotypic level, and that integrated mechanistic models derived from systems biology may offer an interesting perspective for the analysis of convergence at all levels.
ECOLOGICAL GENOMICS: ECOLOGY AND THE EVOLUTION OF GENES AND GENOMES

ISBN : 978-94-007-7347-9; 978-94-007-7346-2
hal-01544757
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01544757
DOI : 10.1007/978-94-007-7347-9__11

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD BioScientifica
Résumé : International audience
BACKGROUND: Differences in circulating steroid hormone levels have been hypothesized to explain ethnic differences in steroid-related diseases. The aim of this study was to determine the serum levels of a wide panel of steroid hormones, both androgens and estrogens, in healthy middle-aged African-Caribbean and European men. DESIGN AND METHODS: Serum steroid hormone levels were determined in men participating in a systematic public health study funded by the French National Health Insurance system. Blood was collected in the morning from 304 healthy African-Caribbean and European men aged between 40 and 69 years. Serum steroids were measured by mass spectrometry-gas chromatography, except for DHEAS and sex hormone-binding globulin, which were determined by RIA. Data were analyzed in 10-year age intervals by analysis of covariance, with adjustment for age, body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, tobacco and alcohol consumption, and season of sampling. RESULTS: Compared with Europeans, African-Caribbean men presented significantly higher serum levels of measured bioavailable testosterone, 4-androstenedione (4-dione), and estrone (E1) regardless of the age group, of 5-androstenediol (5-diol) in those aged 40-49 and 50-59 years, and of testosterone (TT) and dihydrotestosterone in those aged 40-49 years. In contrast, European men aged 40-69 years showed significantly higher serum levels of DHEA and DHEAS. CONCLUSIONS: Significant differences in serum steroid hormone levels were observed in middle-aged African-Caribbean and European men. Whether such differences could contribute to ethnic differences in disease risk in adult men remains to be investigated. Some steroids, such as bioavailable TT, 4-dione, 5-diol, and E1, deserve particular attention.
ISSN: 0804-4643

hal-00876034
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00876034
DOI : 10.1530/EJE-11-0551
PUBMED : 21951700

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier Elsevier Masson
Résumé : International audience
Prostate cancer is the most frequent cancer affecting men in most Western countries. Certain risk factors have been identified (age, family history, ethnic origin), but the aetiology of this cancer remains largely unknown. However, a role for environmental factors is strongly suspected. Questions have been raised concerning the role of the chemical substances generated by human activities in the occurrence of this disease. Diverse studies have consistently demonstrated a higher risk of prostate cancer in agricultural populations than in the general population. The hypothesis that this higher risk is linked to the use of pesticides has been tested in a number of studies, mostly in North America and Europe. However, to date, with a few possible exceptions, it has been impossible to demonstrate a significant association between exposure to pesticides or a chemical family of pesticides and prostate cancer. Studies have also been carried out on the role of exposure to trace metals, such as cadmium, or to pollutants from industry, such as polychlorobiphenyls. However, no firm conclusions have been drawn. Finally, the effect of chemical substances with endocrine disruptor activity on the occurrence of prostate cancer remains largely unexplored in epidemiological studies. In the face of these uncertainties, rigorous studies are required, with objective measurements of exposure, taking into account confounding factors and individual risk factors, making it possible to assess gene-environment interactions.
ISSN: 1297-9589

inserm-00524579
http://www.hal.inserm.fr/inserm-00524579
DOI : 10.1016/j.gyobfe.2008.07.005
PUBMED : 18693059