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Perfluoroalkyl substances influence DNA methylation in school-age children highly exposed through drinking water contaminated from firefighting foam: a cohort study in Ronneby, Sweden

Xu, Yiyi LU ; Lindh, Christian LU orcid ; Fletcher, Tony ; Jakobsson, Kristina and Engström, Karin LU (2022) In Environmental epigenetics 8(1).
Abstract
Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are widespread synthetic substances with various adverse health effects. A potential mechanism of toxicity for PFASs is via epigenetic changes, such as DNA methylation. Previous studies have evaluated associations between PFAS exposure and DNA methylation among newborns and adults. However, no study has evaluated how PFASs influence DNA methylation among children of school age. In this exploratory study with school-age children exposed to PFASs through drinking water highly contaminated from firefighting foams, we aimed to investigate whether exposure to PFASs was associated with alteration in DNA methylation and epigenetic age acceleration. Sixty-three children aged 7–11 years from the Ronneby Biomarker... (More)
Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are widespread synthetic substances with various adverse health effects. A potential mechanism of toxicity for PFASs is via epigenetic changes, such as DNA methylation. Previous studies have evaluated associations between PFAS exposure and DNA methylation among newborns and adults. However, no study has evaluated how PFASs influence DNA methylation among children of school age. In this exploratory study with school-age children exposed to PFASs through drinking water highly contaminated from firefighting foams, we aimed to investigate whether exposure to PFASs was associated with alteration in DNA methylation and epigenetic age acceleration. Sixty-three children aged 7–11 years from the Ronneby Biomarker Cohort (Sweden) were included. The children were either controls with only background exposure (n = 32; perfluorooctane sulfonic acid: median 2.8 and range 1–5 ng/ml) or those exposed to very high levels of PFASs (n = 31; perfluorooctane sulfonic acid: median 295 and range 190–464 ng/ml). These two groups were matched on sex, age, and body mass index. Genome-wide methylation of whole-blood DNA was analyzed using the Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip kit. Epigenetic age acceleration was derived from the DNA methylation data. Twelve differentially methylated positions and seven differentially methylated regions were found when comparing the high-exposure group to the control group. There were no differences in epigenetic age acceleration between these two groups (P = 0.66). We found that PFAS exposure was associated with DNA methylation at specific genomic positions and regions in children at school age, which may indicate a possible mechanism for linking PFAS exposure to health effects. (Less)
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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Environmental epigenetics
volume
8
issue
1
article number
dvac004
publisher
Oxford University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:85128868678
  • pmid:35308102
ISSN
2058-5888
DOI
10.1093/eep/dvac004
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
53f15021-dc5d-41a9-a574-c84e8e053cd7
date added to LUP
2022-03-28 14:28:39
date last changed
2022-09-27 03:00:15
@article{53f15021-dc5d-41a9-a574-c84e8e053cd7,
  abstract     = {{Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are widespread synthetic substances with various adverse health effects. A potential mechanism of toxicity for PFASs is via epigenetic changes, such as DNA methylation. Previous studies have evaluated associations between PFAS exposure and DNA methylation among newborns and adults. However, no study has evaluated how PFASs influence DNA methylation among children of school age. In this exploratory study with school-age children exposed to PFASs through drinking water highly contaminated from firefighting foams, we aimed to investigate whether exposure to PFASs was associated with alteration in DNA methylation and epigenetic age acceleration. Sixty-three children aged 7–11 years from the Ronneby Biomarker Cohort (Sweden) were included. The children were either controls with only background exposure (n = 32; perfluorooctane sulfonic acid: median 2.8 and range 1–5 ng/ml) or those exposed to very high levels of PFASs (n = 31; perfluorooctane sulfonic acid: median 295 and range 190–464 ng/ml). These two groups were matched on sex, age, and body mass index. Genome-wide methylation of whole-blood DNA was analyzed using the Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip kit. Epigenetic age acceleration was derived from the DNA methylation data. Twelve differentially methylated positions and seven differentially methylated regions were found when comparing the high-exposure group to the control group. There were no differences in epigenetic age acceleration between these two groups (P = 0.66). We found that PFAS exposure was associated with DNA methylation at specific genomic positions and regions in children at school age, which may indicate a possible mechanism for linking PFAS exposure to health effects.}},
  author       = {{Xu, Yiyi and Lindh, Christian and Fletcher, Tony and Jakobsson, Kristina and Engström, Karin}},
  issn         = {{2058-5888}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{Oxford University Press}},
  series       = {{Environmental epigenetics}},
  title        = {{Perfluoroalkyl substances influence DNA methylation in school-age children highly exposed through drinking water contaminated from firefighting foam: a cohort study in Ronneby, Sweden}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eep/dvac004}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/eep/dvac004}},
  volume       = {{8}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}