TY - JOUR
T1 - Epigenetic Signatures as Biomarkers of Exposure
AU - Ladd-Acosta, Christine
N1 - Funding Information:
The author would like to thank Dr. Daniele Fallin for her many thoughtful discussions on the subject of epigenetic epidemiology and epigenetic biomarkers. C. Ladd-Acosta is supported by the following grants: Autism Speaks award #7659 (Fallin), R01ES017646 (Fallin/Feinberg), P50 HG003233 (Feinberg), NIH U01AI090727 (Wang), and R01AG042187 (Feinberg)
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Springer International Publishing AG.
PY - 2015/6/1
Y1 - 2015/6/1
N2 - To advance our knowledge of the influence of environmental exposures on human health and disease, robust studies are needed. However, for many exposures, robust studies are not feasible due to limitations with current ascertainment methods and/or study designs. Epigenetics, the study of mitotically heritable, reversible information that regulates critical cell processes, has gained much attention because it offers a potential mechanism to explain how exposures can influence cell states. Therefore, most studies have focused on epigenetics as a mechanism for disease. However, emerging evidence also suggests that epigenetic marks may also serve as biomarkers of exposure. Here, we highlight findings showing that the epigenome is labile to the environment and that these exposure-associated changes show long-term stability, are specific, are detectable in accessible tissues, can predict exposure status, and can be practically implemented, thus supporting the potential for epigenetic patterns to serve as robust measures of environmental exposure.
AB - To advance our knowledge of the influence of environmental exposures on human health and disease, robust studies are needed. However, for many exposures, robust studies are not feasible due to limitations with current ascertainment methods and/or study designs. Epigenetics, the study of mitotically heritable, reversible information that regulates critical cell processes, has gained much attention because it offers a potential mechanism to explain how exposures can influence cell states. Therefore, most studies have focused on epigenetics as a mechanism for disease. However, emerging evidence also suggests that epigenetic marks may also serve as biomarkers of exposure. Here, we highlight findings showing that the epigenome is labile to the environment and that these exposure-associated changes show long-term stability, are specific, are detectable in accessible tissues, can predict exposure status, and can be practically implemented, thus supporting the potential for epigenetic patterns to serve as robust measures of environmental exposure.
KW - Biomarker
KW - DNA methylation
KW - Environmental exposure
KW - Epigenetic
KW - Persistence
KW - Signature
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U2 - 10.1007/s40572-015-0051-2
DO - 10.1007/s40572-015-0051-2
M3 - Article
C2 - 26231361
AN - SCOPUS:84947783202
SN - 2196-5412
VL - 2
SP - 117
EP - 125
JO - Current environmental health reports
JF - Current environmental health reports
IS - 2
ER -