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Environmental Epigenomics: Applications of Epigenetic Biomarkers to Investigate Epigenetic Alterations from Environmental Exposures

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Environmental Epigenetics

Part of the book series: Molecular and Integrative Toxicology ((MOLECUL))

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Abstract

Over the past decade, evidence has shown that epigenetic mechanisms play an important role in human disease susceptibility and cancer. Studies of potential human carcinogens have been expanded to include those that do not appear to damage DNA directly but rather alter gene expression patterns through epigenetic mechanisms such as alterations in DNA methylation, histone modifications/chromatin alterations, and microRNA. Given that almost 25 % of all human diseases are estimated to be caused by environmental exposures, here we review current studies of xenobiotic exposures for which there is growing mechanistic evidence for indirect DNA alteration through epigenetic mechanisms. Also described are common variations in genes that may modify epigenetic alterations in blood and tumor DNA. Epidemiological methods used to incorporate epigenetic alterations into studies of disease etiology as well as current methods used to apply and critically evaluate study results reporting associations between environmental exposure and disease are described.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics [contract number N02-CP-01037].

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The Views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences or the Department of Defense.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, Department of Health and Human Services, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Lee E. Moore & Sara Karami

  2. Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Jennifer A. Rusiecki

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  1. Lee E. Moore
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  2. Sara Karami
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  3. Jennifer A. Rusiecki
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Correspondence to Lee E. Moore .

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  1. Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, Epidemiology and Genomic Research Program, Modifiable Risk Factors Branch, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, Maryland, USA

    L. Joseph Su

  2. Research Participation Program at Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, Oak Ridge Associate University (ORAU), Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Tennessee, USA

    Tung-chin Chiang

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Moore, L.E., Karami, S., Rusiecki, J.A. (2015). Environmental Epigenomics: Applications of Epigenetic Biomarkers to Investigate Epigenetic Alterations from Environmental Exposures. In: Su, L., Chiang, Tc. (eds) Environmental Epigenetics. Molecular and Integrative Toxicology. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-6678-8_11

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