Browsing by Author "Neri, Monica"
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- Application of the comet assay in human biomonitoring: an hCOMET perspectivePublication . Azqueta, Amaya; Ladeira, Carina; Giovannelli, Lisa; Boutet-Robinet, Elisa; Bonassi, Stefano; Neri, Monica; Gajski, Goran; Duthie, Susan; Del Bo’, Cristian; Riso, Patrizia; Koppen, Gudrun; Basaran, Nursen; Collins, Andrew; Møller, PeterThe comet assay is a well-accepted biomonitoring tool to examine the effect of dietary, lifestyle, environmental and occupational exposure on levels of DNA damage in human cells. With such a wide range of determinants for DNA damage levels, it becomes challenging to deal with confounding and certain factors are interrelated (e.g. poor nutritional intake may correlate with smoking status). This review describes the effect of intrinsic (i.e. sex, age, tobacco smoking, occupational exposure, and obesity) and extrinsic (season, environmental exposures, diet, physical activity, and alcohol consumption) factors on the level of DNA damage measured by the standard or enzyme-modified comet assay. Although each factor influences at least one comet assay endpoint, the collective evidence does not indicate single factors have a large impact. Thus, controlling for confounding may be necessary for a biomonitoring study, but none of the factors is strong enough to be regarded as a priori as a confounder. Controlling for confounding in the comet assay requires a case-by-case approach. Inter-laboratory variation in levels of DNA damage and to some extent also reproducibility in biomonitoring studies are issues that have haunted the users of the comet assay for years. Procedures to collect specimens, and their storage, are not standardized. Likewise, statistical issues related to both sample-size calculation (before sampling of specimens) and statistical analysis of the results vary between studies. This review gives guidance to statistical analysis of the typically complex exposure, co-variate, and effect relationships in human biomonitoring studies.
- The hCOMET project: international database comparison of results with the comet assay in human biomonitoring (baseline frequency of DNA damage and effect of main confounders)Publication . Milić, Mirta; Ceppi, Marcello; Bruzzone, Marco; Azqueta, Amaya; Brunborg, Gunnar; Godschalk, Roger; Koppen, Gudrun; Langie, Sabine; Møller, Peter; Teixeira, João Paulo; Alija, Avdulla; Anderson, Diana; Andrade, Vanessa; Andreoli, Cristina; Asllani, Fisnik; Bangkoglu, Ezgi Eyluel; Barančoková, Magdalena; Basaran, Nursen; Boutet-Robinet, Elisa; Buschini, Annamaria; Cavallo, Delia; Costa Pereira, Cristiana; Costa, Carla; Costa, Solange; Da Silva, Juliana; Del Boˊ, Cristian; Dimitrijević Srećković, Vesna; Djelić, Ninoslav; Dobrzyńska, Malgorzata; Duračková, Zdenka; Dvořáková, Monika; Gajski, Goran; Galati, Serena; García Lima, Omar; Giovannelli, Lisa; Goroshinskaya, Irina A.; Grindel, Annemarie; Gutzkow, Kristine B.; Hernández, Alba; Hernández, Carlos; Holven, Kirsten B.; Ibero-Baraibar, Idoia; Ottestad, Inger; Kadioglu, Ela; Kažimirová, Alena; Kuznetsova, Elena; Ladeira, Carina; Laffon, Blanca; Lamonaca, Palma; Lebailly, Pierre; Louro, Henriqueta; Mandina Cardoso, Tania; Marcon, Francesca; Marcos, Ricard; Moretti, Massimo; Moretti, Silvia; Najafzadeh, Mojgan; Nemeth, Zsuzsanna; Neri, Monica; Novotna, Bozena; Orlow, Irene; Paduchova, Zuzana; Pastor, Susana; Perdry, Hervé; Spremo-Potparević, Biljana; Ramadhani, Dwi; Riso, Patrizia; Rohr, Paula; Rojas, Emilio; Rossner, Pavel; Safar, Anna; Sardas, Semra; Silva, Maria João; Sirota, Nikolay; Smolkova, Bozena; Staruchova, Marta; Stetina, Rudolf; Stopper, Helga; Surikova, Ekaterina I.; Ulven, Stine M.; Ursini, Cinzia Lucia; Valdiglesias, Vanessa; Valverde, Mahara; Vodicka, Pavel; Volkovova, Katarina; Wagner, Karl-Heinz; Živković, Lada; Dušinská, Maria; Collins, Andrew R.; Bonassi, StefanoThe alkaline comet assay, or single cell gel electrophoresis, is one of the most popular methods for assessing DNA damage in the human population. One of the open issues concerning this assay is the identification of those factors that can explain the large inter-individual and inter-laboratory variation. International collaborative initiatives such as the hCOMET project - a COST Action launched in 2016 - represent a valuable tool to meet this challenge. The aims of hCOMET were to establish reference values for the level of DNA damage in humans, to investigate the effect of host factors, lifestyle, and exposure to genotoxic agents, and to compare different sources of assay variability. A database of 19,320 subjects was generated, pooling data from 105 studies run by 44 laboratories in 26 countries between 1999 and 2019. A mixed random effect log-linear model, in parallel with a classic meta-analysis, was applied to take into account the extensive heterogeneity of data, due to descriptor, specimen, and protocol variability. As a result of this analysis interquartile intervals of DNA strand breaks (which includes alkali-labile sites) were reported for tail intensity, tail length, and tail moment (comet assay descriptors). A small variation by age was reported in some datasets, suggesting higher DNA damage in oldest age-classes, while no effect could be shown for sex or smoking habit, although the lack of data on heavy smokers has still to be considered. Finally, highly significant differences in DNA damage were found for most exposures investigated in specific studies. In conclusion, these data, which confirm that DNA damage measured by the comet assay is an excellent biomarker of exposure in several conditions, may contribute to improving the quality of study design and to the standardization of results of the comet assay in humans populations.