常见复杂疾病的显著疾病风险与环境暴露和污染物有关。对环境污染物如何作用于我们的细胞引起有害的健康影响的认识，促进了我们对慢性疾病的发病机理的分子机制的认识，包括癌症、心血管疾病、神经退行性疾病和呼吸系统疾病。在这里，我们讨论环境污染物与人类基因组和表观基因组的相互作用的新兴研究。我们回顾了显示环境对基因表达通过表观遗传修饰包括DNA甲基化，组蛋白修饰和非编码RNA的证据。我们还强调了最近发现的分子过程的最新研究，这些分子过程可以通过环境产生影响，包括细胞外小囊泡、表观转录组和线粒体基因组。最后，我们还讨论了在研究环境暴露剂时面临的当前挑战——环境暴露测度问题中的累积性测量以及其如何融入未来的环境卫生研究。 ©2023 Springer Nature Limited。

A substantial proportion of disease risk for common complex disorders is attributable to environmental exposures and pollutants. An appreciation of how environmental pollutants act on our cells to produce deleterious health effects has led to advances in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of chronic diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular, neurodegenerative and respiratory diseases. Here, we discuss emerging research on the interplay of environmental pollutants with the human genome and epigenome. We review evidence showing the environmental impact on gene expression through epigenetic modifications, including DNA methylation, histone modification and non-coding RNAs. We also highlight recent studies that evaluate recently discovered molecular processes through which the environment can exert its effects, including extracellular vesicles, the epitranscriptome and the mitochondrial genome. Finally, we discuss current challenges when studying the exposome - the cumulative measure of environmental influences over the lifespan - and its integration into future environmental health research.© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.