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Prenatal famine exposure and adult health outcomes: an epigenetic link

Numerous human chronic pathological conditions depend on epigenetic modifications induced by environmental triggers throughout sensitive stages early in development. Developmental malnutrition is regarded as one of the most important risk factors in these processes. We present an overview of studies...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Vaiserman, Alexander, Lushchak, Oleh
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8648067/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34881050
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eep/dvab013
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author Vaiserman, Alexander
Lushchak, Oleh
author_facet Vaiserman, Alexander
Lushchak, Oleh
author_sort Vaiserman, Alexander
collection PubMed
description Numerous human chronic pathological conditions depend on epigenetic modifications induced by environmental triggers throughout sensitive stages early in development. Developmental malnutrition is regarded as one of the most important risk factors in these processes. We present an overview of studies that the initiation and progression of many diseases are largely dependent on persisting epigenetic dysregulation caused by environmental insults early in life. For particular disorders, candidate genes were identified that underlie these associations. The current study assessed the most convincing evidence for the epigenetic link between developmental malnutrition and adult-life disease in the human population. These findings were obtained from quasi-experimental studies (so-called ‘natural experiments’), i.e. naturally occurring environmental conditions in which certain subsets of the population have differing levels of exposure to a supposed causal factor. Most of this evidence was derived on the DNA methylation level. We discussed DNA methylation as a key player in epigenetic modifications that can be inherited through multiple cell divisions. In this Perspective article, an overview of the quasi-experimental epidemiological evidence for the role of epigenetic mechanisms in the developmental programming by early-life undernutrition is provided.
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spelling pubmed-86480672021-12-07 Prenatal famine exposure and adult health outcomes: an epigenetic link Vaiserman, Alexander Lushchak, Oleh Environ Epigenet Perspectives Numerous human chronic pathological conditions depend on epigenetic modifications induced by environmental triggers throughout sensitive stages early in development. Developmental malnutrition is regarded as one of the most important risk factors in these processes. We present an overview of studies that the initiation and progression of many diseases are largely dependent on persisting epigenetic dysregulation caused by environmental insults early in life. For particular disorders, candidate genes were identified that underlie these associations. The current study assessed the most convincing evidence for the epigenetic link between developmental malnutrition and adult-life disease in the human population. These findings were obtained from quasi-experimental studies (so-called ‘natural experiments’), i.e. naturally occurring environmental conditions in which certain subsets of the population have differing levels of exposure to a supposed causal factor. Most of this evidence was derived on the DNA methylation level. We discussed DNA methylation as a key player in epigenetic modifications that can be inherited through multiple cell divisions. In this Perspective article, an overview of the quasi-experimental epidemiological evidence for the role of epigenetic mechanisms in the developmental programming by early-life undernutrition is provided. Oxford University Press 2021-11-24 /pmc/articles/PMC8648067/ /pubmed/34881050 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eep/dvab013 Text en © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Perspectives
Vaiserman, Alexander
Lushchak, Oleh
Prenatal famine exposure and adult health outcomes: an epigenetic link
title Prenatal famine exposure and adult health outcomes: an epigenetic link
title_full Prenatal famine exposure and adult health outcomes: an epigenetic link
title_fullStr Prenatal famine exposure and adult health outcomes: an epigenetic link
title_full_unstemmed Prenatal famine exposure and adult health outcomes: an epigenetic link
title_short Prenatal famine exposure and adult health outcomes: an epigenetic link
title_sort prenatal famine exposure and adult health outcomes: an epigenetic link
topic Perspectives
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8648067/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34881050
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eep/dvab013
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