Following on from the Eglantine project, funded by the French Medical Research Foundation, EHESP has joined a European research consortium as part of the ExpoSignalz project, which aims to study the origins of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (responsible for around 70% of dementia cases). This project, funded by Horizon Europe as part of the ‘Horizon Santé’ 2024 call for proposals over a period of five years, is coordinated by Véronique Perrier of the Montpellier Institute of Neurosciences (Inserm) and involves several researchers – Delphine Pellé, Fabien Mercier and Arthur David from the DEESSE department at EHESP, Léres and Irset – and numerous engineers and post-doctoral researchers from Léres.
The objectives of the ExpoSignalz project
The main objective of this research project is to answer key questions about chemical risk factors:
- Do environmental pollutants contribute to the development of dementia, particularly Alzheimer’s disease?
- How do they interact with the body and the brain?
- What effects do they have depending on the stage of life at which exposure occurs?
A dual approach to identifying combinations of pollutants that increase the risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases
To provide answers, the ExpoSignalz research programme adopts an interdisciplinary and translational approach aimed at transforming scientific discoveries into concrete applications for clinical research and medical practice. The project focuses on the simultaneous study of several categories of chemical contaminants, both organic and inorganic, including historical and emerging pesticides, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as PCBs, and heavy metals. It also uses high-resolution mass spectrometry technologies to identify new chemical signatures, without preconceptions, in biological blood matrices. These analyses will be carried out on several thousand individuals from four large cohorts in the general population: the Trois-Cités (France), Biobank and Brain Health in Bordeaux (France), Constances (France) and Betula (Sweden) studies. These cohorts, which have detailed data on brain ageing, dementia and various lifestyle factors (e.g. diet), followed from middle age to old age, will enable the implementation of early prevention strategies aimed at delaying or preventing the onset of the disease.
At the same time, the impact of certain combinations of environmental pollutants will be studied using preclinical models of Alzheimer’s disease, including models of fibrillation, toxicity and blood-brain barrier permeability, in order to identify the substances most harmful to neurodegeneration. By combining epidemiological and experimental approaches, the project will determine which combinations of pollutants increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease or other specific clinical and biological alterations.
A research project aimed at improving care for patients with Alzheimer’s disease
Eventually, the results of ExpoSignalz could help reduce or delay the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease, thereby alleviating the economic and social challenges associated with it. This project could also promote earlier diagnosis and pave the way for the use of new disease-modifying treatments to delay the onset of the most severe stages of the disease.
EHESP, and more specifically France Exposome’s Leres–Irset_1085 platform, has received €1.5 million in funding under this programme to conduct impregnation studies on several thousand individuals exposed to chemical, organic and inorganic contaminants, using targeted and non-targeted analytical approaches.
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