TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploring the evidence for epigenetic regulation of environmental influences on child health across generations
AU - Breton, Carrie V.
AU - Landon, Remy
AU - Kahn, Linda G.
AU - Enlow, Michelle Bosquet
AU - Peterson, Alicia K.
AU - Bastain, Theresa
AU - Braun, Joseph
AU - Comstock, Sarah S.
AU - Duarte, Cristiane S.
AU - Hipwell, Alison
AU - Ji, Hong
AU - LaSalle, Janine M.
AU - Miller, Rachel L.
AU - Musci, Rashelle
AU - Posner, Jonathan
AU - Schmidt, Rebecca
AU - Suglia, Shakira F.
AU - Tung, Irene
AU - Weisenberger, Daniel
AU - Zhu, Yeyi
AU - Fry, Rebecca
N1 - Funding Information:
An opportunity: the ECHO study. The Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program, created in 2016, is an NIH-funded national program that supports existing observational and intervention studies to answer important questions about key developmental areas, including pre-, peri-, and early postnatal outcomes, airway conditions, obesity, and neurodevelopment251. The program consists of 72 cohorts (https://www.nih.gov/echo/pediatric-cohorts), with an estimated sample size exceeding 50,000 children from diverse populations across the United States. The program leverages extant data along with newly collected data from primary and secondary sources along with biospecimens collected across key developmental periods252. The structure of ECHO is such that the principal investigators of each cohort form a steering committee designed to guide the research program. The ECHO program is also supported by a funded coordinating center, data analysis center, children’s health exposure analysis resource, patient-reported outcome core, and genetics core253. ECHO forms a large multidisciplinary network of researchers focused on solution-oriented research among a heterogeneous set of existing cohorts. This structure differs from other large-cohort studies (e.g., Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children) in that the extant cohorts that are a part of the ECHO program vary significantly in their study design, year of initiation, research domain focus, and study population. This heterogeneity offers unique challenges related to the harmonization of extant data, but also provides researchers with the diversity needed to answer important questions regarding the impact of biology, structural inequities, changing policy, and socio-cultural context on child health.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - Environmental exposures, psychosocial stressors and nutrition are all potentially important influences that may impact health outcomes directly or via interactions with the genome or epigenome over generations. While there have been clear successes in large-scale human genetic studies in recent decades, there is still a substantial amount of missing heritability to be elucidated for complex childhood disorders. Mounting evidence, primarily in animals, suggests environmental exposures may generate or perpetuate altered health outcomes across one or more generations. One putative mechanism for these environmental health effects is via altered epigenetic regulation. This review highlights the current epidemiologic literature and supporting animal studies that describe intergenerational and transgenerational health effects of environmental exposures. Both maternal and paternal exposures and transmission patterns are considered, with attention paid to the attendant ethical, legal and social implications.
AB - Environmental exposures, psychosocial stressors and nutrition are all potentially important influences that may impact health outcomes directly or via interactions with the genome or epigenome over generations. While there have been clear successes in large-scale human genetic studies in recent decades, there is still a substantial amount of missing heritability to be elucidated for complex childhood disorders. Mounting evidence, primarily in animals, suggests environmental exposures may generate or perpetuate altered health outcomes across one or more generations. One putative mechanism for these environmental health effects is via altered epigenetic regulation. This review highlights the current epidemiologic literature and supporting animal studies that describe intergenerational and transgenerational health effects of environmental exposures. Both maternal and paternal exposures and transmission patterns are considered, with attention paid to the attendant ethical, legal and social implications.
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U2 - 10.1038/s42003-021-02316-6
DO - 10.1038/s42003-021-02316-6
M3 - Review article
C2 - 34158610
AN - SCOPUS:85108382372
SN - 2399-3642
VL - 4
JO - Communications biology
JF - Communications biology
IS - 1
M1 - 769
ER -