TY - JOUR
T1 - Environmental chemicals and DNA methylation in adults
T2 - A systematic review of the epidemiologic evidence
AU - Ruiz-Hernandez, Adrian
AU - Kuo, Chin Chi
AU - Rentero-Garrido, Pilar
AU - Tang, Wan Yee
AU - Redon, Josep
AU - Ordovas, Jose M.
AU - Navas-Acien, Ana
AU - Tellez-Plaza, Maria
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Ruiz-Hernandez et al.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Current evidence supports the notion that environmental exposures are associated with DNA-methylation and expression changes that can impact human health. Our objective was to conduct a systematic review of epidemiologic studies evaluating the association between environmental chemicals with DNA methylation levels in adults. After excluding arsenic, recently evaluated in a systematic review, we identified a total of 17 articles (6 on cadmium, 4 on lead, 2 on mercury, 1 on nickel, 1 on antimony, 1 on tungsten, 5 on persistent organic pollutants and perfluorinated compounds, 1 on bisphenol A, and 3 on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons). The selected articles reported quantitative methods to determine DNA methylation including immunocolorimetric assays for total content of genomic DNA methylation, and microarray technologies, methylation-specific quantitative PCR, Luminometric Methylation Assay (LUMA), and bisulfite pyrosequencing for DNA methylation content of genomic sites such as gene promoters, LINE-1, Alu elements, and others. Considering consistency, temporality, strength, dose-response relationship, and biological plausibility, we concluded that the current evidence is not sufficient to provide inference because differences across studies and limited samples sizes make it difficult to compare across studies and to evaluate sources of heterogeneity. Important questions for future research include the need for larger and longitudinal studies, the validation of findings, and the systematic evaluation of the dose-response relationships. Future studies should also consider the evaluation of epigenetic marks recently in the research spotlight such as DNA hydroxymethylation and the role of underlying genetic variants.
AB - Current evidence supports the notion that environmental exposures are associated with DNA-methylation and expression changes that can impact human health. Our objective was to conduct a systematic review of epidemiologic studies evaluating the association between environmental chemicals with DNA methylation levels in adults. After excluding arsenic, recently evaluated in a systematic review, we identified a total of 17 articles (6 on cadmium, 4 on lead, 2 on mercury, 1 on nickel, 1 on antimony, 1 on tungsten, 5 on persistent organic pollutants and perfluorinated compounds, 1 on bisphenol A, and 3 on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons). The selected articles reported quantitative methods to determine DNA methylation including immunocolorimetric assays for total content of genomic DNA methylation, and microarray technologies, methylation-specific quantitative PCR, Luminometric Methylation Assay (LUMA), and bisulfite pyrosequencing for DNA methylation content of genomic sites such as gene promoters, LINE-1, Alu elements, and others. Considering consistency, temporality, strength, dose-response relationship, and biological plausibility, we concluded that the current evidence is not sufficient to provide inference because differences across studies and limited samples sizes make it difficult to compare across studies and to evaluate sources of heterogeneity. Important questions for future research include the need for larger and longitudinal studies, the validation of findings, and the systematic evaluation of the dose-response relationships. Future studies should also consider the evaluation of epigenetic marks recently in the research spotlight such as DNA hydroxymethylation and the role of underlying genetic variants.
KW - Bisphenol A
KW - Cadmium
KW - DNA methylation
KW - Environmental chemicals
KW - Lead
KW - Mercury
KW - Metals
KW - Persistent organic pollutants
KW - Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
KW - Systematic review
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U2 - 10.1186/s13148-015-0055-7
DO - 10.1186/s13148-015-0055-7
M3 - Review article
C2 - 25984247
AN - SCOPUS:84983085051
SN - 1868-7075
VL - 7
JO - Clinical Epigenetics
JF - Clinical Epigenetics
IS - 1
M1 - 55
ER -