ABSTRACT
I. INTRODUCTION Molecular epidemiology encompasses the use of biomarkers in epidemiological research through the incorporation of molecular, cellular, and other biochemical measurements into studies of etiology, prevention, and control of health risks encountered by human populations (1-3). Application of validated biomarkers to traditional epidemiological studies helps to delineate the continuum of events between an exposure and resulting disease; to identify smaller exposures to specific xenobiotics; to indicate earlier events in the natural history of diseases and reduce misclassification of dependent and independent variables; to enhance individual and group risk monitoring and assessments; and to reveal toxicologic mechanisms by which an exposure and a disease are related (3). A critical feature of molecular epidemiologic studies is the interdisciplinary collaboration between population, field scientists, and laboratory scientists from various disciplines, such as epidemiology, toxicology, molecular biology, genetics, immunology, biochemistry, pathology, and analytical chemistry. Because the analytic measurement of biomarkers are central to molecular epidemiologic studies, special attention to the collection, handling, and storage of biological specimens, as well as development and validation of analytical methods, is required (2). The use of
biomarkers can also speed the process of risk assessment, because molecular epidemiologic studies many categories of human risk monitoring data (4).
