a The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agricultural, Food, and Nutritional Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem , Rehovot , Israel.
Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2017 Jul 24;57(11):2404-2411. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2015.1060940.
The epigenetic phenomena refer to heritable changes in gene expression other than those in the DNA sequence, such as DNA methylation and histone modifications. Major research progress in the last few years has provided further proof that environmental factors, including diet and nutrition, can influence physiologic and pathologic processes through epigenetic alterations, which in turn influence gene expression. This influence is termed nutritional epigenetics, and one prominent example is the regulation of gene transcription by vitamin A through interaction to its nuclear receptor. Vitamin A is critical throughout life. Together with its derivatives, it regulates diverse processes including reproduction, embryogenesis, vision, growth, cellular differentiation and proliferation, maintenance of epithelial cellular integrity and immune function. Here we review the epigenetic role of vitamin A in cancer, stem cells differentiation, proliferation, and immunity. The data presented here show that retinoic acid is a potent agent capable of inducing alterations in epigenetic modifications that produce various effects on the phenotype. Medical benefits of vitamin A as an epigenetic modulator, especially with respect to its chronic use as nutritional supplement, should rely on our further understanding of its epigenetic effects during health and disease, as well as through different generations.
表观遗传现象是指除 DNA 序列变化之外的可遗传的基因表达变化，例如 DNA 甲基化和组蛋白修饰。近年来的主要研究进展进一步证明，环境因素（包括饮食和营养）可以通过表观遗传改变影响生理和病理过程，进而影响基因表达。这种影响被称为营养表观遗传学，一个突出的例子是维生素 A 通过与其核受体相互作用来调节基因转录。维生素 A 在一生中都至关重要。它与其衍生物一起调节多种过程，包括生殖、胚胎发生、视力、生长、细胞分化和增殖、上皮细胞完整性和免疫功能的维持。在这里，我们回顾了维生素 A 在癌症、干细胞分化、增殖和免疫中的表观遗传作用。这里呈现的数据表明，视黄酸是一种能够诱导表观遗传修饰改变的有效物质，从而对表型产生各种影响。维生素 A 作为表观遗传调节剂的医学益处，特别是作为营养补充剂的慢性使用，应该依赖于我们对其在健康和疾病期间以及通过不同世代的表观遗传作用的进一步了解。
