Biological determinants of health: Genes, microbes, and metabolism exemplars of nursing science

• Published in: Nursing outlook 2017-09, Vol.65 (5), p.506-514
• Main Authors: Ferranti, Erin P., Grossmann, Ruth, Starkweather, Angela, Heitkemper, Margaret
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biomarkers; Genomics; Humans; Metabolomics; Metagenomics; Nursing Research - methods; Precision Medicine; Proteomics
• ISSN: 0029-6554; 1528-3968
• DOI: 10.1016/j.outlook.2017.03.013

Increasingly, nurse scientists are incorporating “omics” measures (e.g., genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics) in studies of biologic determinants of health and behavior. The role of omics in nursing science can be conceptualized in several ways: (a) as a portfolio of biological measures (biomarkers) to monitor individual risk, (b) as a set of combined data elements that can generate new knowledge based on large and complex patient data sets, (c) as baseline information that promotes health education and potentially personalized interventions, and (d) as a platform to understand how environmental parameters (e.g., diet) interact with the individual’s physiology. In this article, we provide exemplars of nursing scientists who use omics to better understand specific health conditions. We highlight various ongoing nursing research investigations incorporating omics technologies to study chronic pain vulnerability, risk for a pain-related condition, cardiometabolic complications associated with pregnancy, and as biomarkers of response to a dietary intervention. Omics technologies add an important dimension to nursing science across many foci of investigation. However, there are also challenges and opportunities for nurse scientists who consider using omics in their research. The integration of omics holds promise for increasing the impact of nursing research and practice on population health outcomes. •Multi-omic measures allow for examination of the products of genes and ultimately the linkage of genetic risk with clinical phenotypes such as chronic low back pain.•Omic measures provide a way to evaluate patient responses to specific therapeutics and possibly reveal pathways that can be targeted for personalized treatment.•Advances in blood-based microRNA techniques open up avenues for nurse scientists to study health risk as well as to track responses to therapeutic approaches.•There is a need to examine the association of the microbiome with cardiometabolic complications longitudinally from pregnancy through postpartum.•Nursing scientists are using multi-omics approach (metabolome, microbiome, and epigenome analyses) to identify potential biomarkers as well as to gain insights into mechanisms related to dietary interventions in chronic illnesses.•Nurse scientists through their multilevel focus on the individual, family, and community can interweave the biologic with the sociocultural and behavioral influences on ability and disability.