Institute of Environmental Medicine, Unit of Metals and Health, Karolinska Institutet, Nobels väg 13, Box 210, SE-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden.
Curr Environ Health Rep. 2015 Jun;2(2):195-203. doi: 10.1007/s40572-015-0049-9.
Prenatal exposure to the highly toxic and common pollutant cadmium has been associated with adverse effects on child health and development. However, the underlying biological mechanisms of cadmium toxicity remain partially unsolved. Epigenetic disruption due to early cadmium exposure has gained attention as a plausible mode of action, since epigenetic signatures respond to environmental stimuli and the fetus undergoes drastic epigenomic rearrangements during embryogenesis. In the current review, we provide a critical examination of the literature addressing prenatal cadmium exposure and epigenetic effects in human, animal, and in vitro studies. We conducted a PubMed search and obtained eight recent studies addressing this topic, focusing almost exclusively on DNA methylation. These studies provide evidence that cadmium alters epigenetic signatures in the DNA of the placenta and of the newborns, and some studies indicated marked sexual differences for cadmium-related DNA methylation changes. Associations between early cadmium exposure and DNA methylation might reflect interference with de novo DNA methyltransferases. More studies, especially those including environmentally relevant doses, are needed to confirm the toxicoepigenomic effects of prenatal cadmium exposure and how that relates to the observed health effects of cadmium in childhood and later life.
产前暴露于高毒性且常见的污染物镉与儿童健康和发育的不良影响有关。然而，镉毒性的潜在生物学机制仍部分未得到解决。由于早期镉暴露导致的表观遗传紊乱已引起关注，因为表观遗传特征对环境刺激做出反应，并且胎儿在胚胎发生过程中经历剧烈的表观基因组重排。在当前的综述中，我们对涉及人类、动物和体外研究中产前镉暴露和表观遗传效应的文献进行了批判性审查。我们进行了 PubMed 搜索并获得了八项最近研究该主题的研究，这些研究几乎完全集中在 DNA 甲基化上。这些研究提供了证据表明，镉会改变胎盘和新生儿 DNA 中的表观遗传特征，并且一些研究表明，镉相关的 DNA 甲基化变化存在明显的性别差异。早期镉暴露与 DNA 甲基化之间的关联可能反映了对从头 DNA 甲基转移酶的干扰。需要进行更多的研究，特别是那些包括环境相关剂量的研究，以确认产前镉暴露的毒效表观遗传学效应，以及这如何与儿童期和以后生活中观察到的镉对健康的影响相关。
