Gene-environment interactions and their impact on human health

The molecular processes underlying human health and disease are highly complex. Often, genetic and environmental factors contribute to a given disease or phenotype in a non-additive manner, yielding a gene-environment (G x E) interaction. In this work, we broadly review current knowledge on the impact of gene-environment interactions on human health. We first explain the independent impact of genetic variation and the environment. We next detail well-established G x E interactions that impact human health involving environmental toxicants, pollution, viruses, and sex chromosome composition. We conclude with possibilities and challenges for studying G x E interactions.