Laboratory of Epigenetics, Institute of Gerontology, Kiev, Ukraine.
Exp Gerontol. 2011 Feb-Mar;46(2-3):189-92. doi: 10.1016/j.exger.2010.08.031. Epub 2010 Sep 15.
Until the present time, disease susceptibility was believed to be determined solely by the genetic information carried in the DNA sequence. In recent years, however, it has become clear that epigenetic rearrangements play an equally essential role in the disease development and that this process, particularly at key developmental stages, is very susceptible to environmental modulations. The extensive studies, both human and animal, have shown that early-life environment is probably the most important causal component in the etiology of some diseases including cancer as well as metabolic and cardiovascular disorders. This review considers the natural experiment-based evidence regarding the developmental origin of human adult disease.
直到目前，人们一直认为疾病易感性仅由 DNA 序列中携带的遗传信息决定。然而，近年来，人们已经清楚地认识到，表观遗传重排在疾病发展中同样起着至关重要的作用，并且这一过程，尤其是在关键的发育阶段，非常容易受到环境调节的影响。广泛的人类和动物研究表明，生命早期的环境可能是某些疾病（包括癌症以及代谢和心血管疾病）病因学中最重要的因果组成部分。本综述考虑了关于人类成年疾病发育起源的基于自然实验的证据。
