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Cadmium exposure and the epigenome: Exposure-associated patterns of DNA methylation in leukocytes from mother-baby pairs.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Sanders, AP; Smeester, L; Rojas, D; DeBussycher, T; Wu, MC; Wright, FA; Zhou, Y-H; Laine, JE; Rager, JE; Swamy, GK; Ashley-Koch, A; Fry, RC ...
Published in: Epigenetics
February 2014

Cadmium (Cd) is prevalent in the environment yet understudied as a developmental toxicant. Cd partially crosses the placental barrier from mother to fetus and is linked to detrimental effects in newborns. Here we examine the relationship between levels of Cd during pregnancy and 5-methylcytosine (5mC) levels in leukocyte DNA collected from 17 mother-newborn pairs. The methylation of cytosines is an epigenetic mechanism known to impact transcriptional signaling and influence health endpoints. A methylated cytosine-guanine (CpG) island recovery assay was used to assess over 4.6 million sites spanning 16,421 CpG islands. Exposure to Cd was classified for each mother-newborn pair according to maternal blood levels and compared with levels of cotinine. Subsets of genes were identified that showed altered DNA methylation levels in their promoter regions in fetal DNA associated with levels of Cd (n = 61), cotinine (n = 366), or both (n = 30). Likewise, in maternal DNA, differentially methylated genes were identified that were associated with Cd (n = 92) or cotinine (n = 134) levels. While the gene sets were largely distinct between maternal and fetal DNA, functional similarities at the biological pathway level were identified including an enrichment of genes that encode for proteins that control transcriptional regulation and apoptosis. Furthermore, conserved DNA motifs with sequence similarity to specific transcription factor binding sites were identified within the CpG islands of the gene sets. This study provides evidence for distinct patterns of DNA methylation or "footprints" in fetal and maternal DNA associated with exposure to Cd.

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Published In

Epigenetics

DOI

EISSN

1559-2308

Publication Date

February 2014

Volume

9

Issue

2

Start / End Page

212 / 221

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Promoter Regions, Genetic
  • Pregnancy
  • Maternal-Fetal Exchange
  • Maternal Exposure
  • Male
  • Leukocytes
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Humans
  • Genome, Human
  • Gene Expression Regulation
 

Citation

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Sanders, A. P., Smeester, L., Rojas, D., DeBussycher, T., Wu, M. C., Wright, F. A., … Fry, R. C. (2014). Cadmium exposure and the epigenome: Exposure-associated patterns of DNA methylation in leukocytes from mother-baby pairs. Epigenetics, 9(2), 212–221. https://doi.org/10.4161/epi.26798
Sanders, Alison P., Lisa Smeester, Daniel Rojas, Tristan DeBussycher, Michael C. Wu, Fred A. Wright, Yi-Hui Zhou, et al. “Cadmium exposure and the epigenome: Exposure-associated patterns of DNA methylation in leukocytes from mother-baby pairs.Epigenetics 9, no. 2 (February 2014): 212–21. https://doi.org/10.4161/epi.26798.
Sanders AP, Smeester L, Rojas D, DeBussycher T, Wu MC, Wright FA, et al. Cadmium exposure and the epigenome: Exposure-associated patterns of DNA methylation in leukocytes from mother-baby pairs. Epigenetics. 2014 Feb;9(2):212–21.
Sanders, Alison P., et al. “Cadmium exposure and the epigenome: Exposure-associated patterns of DNA methylation in leukocytes from mother-baby pairs.Epigenetics, vol. 9, no. 2, Feb. 2014, pp. 212–21. Pubmed, doi:10.4161/epi.26798.
Sanders AP, Smeester L, Rojas D, DeBussycher T, Wu MC, Wright FA, Zhou Y-H, Laine JE, Rager JE, Swamy GK, Ashley-Koch A, Lynn Miranda M, Fry RC. Cadmium exposure and the epigenome: Exposure-associated patterns of DNA methylation in leukocytes from mother-baby pairs. Epigenetics. 2014 Feb;9(2):212–221.

Published In

Epigenetics

DOI

EISSN

1559-2308

Publication Date

February 2014

Volume

9

Issue

2

Start / End Page

212 / 221

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Promoter Regions, Genetic
  • Pregnancy
  • Maternal-Fetal Exchange
  • Maternal Exposure
  • Male
  • Leukocytes
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Humans
  • Genome, Human
  • Gene Expression Regulation