Pereira Stacey, Apodaca Calvin, Slominski Kyle, Lipsky Rachele K, Coarfa Cristian, Walker Cheryl L, McGuire Amy L, Steele Lea, Helmer Drew A
medRxiv. 2024 Apr 18:2024.04.09.24305554. doi: 10.1101/2024.04.09.24305554.
With the signing of the PACT Act in 2022, there is great interest and investment in studying toxic exposures encountered during military service. One way to address this is through the identification of epigenomic biomarkers associated with exposures. There is increasing evidence suggesting that exposure to toxic substances may result in alterations to DNA methylation and resultant gene expression. These epigenomic changes may lead to adverse health effects for exposed individuals and their offspring. While the development of epigenomic biomarkers for exposures could facilitate understanding of these exposure-related health effects, such testing could also provide unwanted information.
Explore Veterans' attitudes toward epigenomic biomarker research and the potential to test for past exposures that could pose intergenerational risk.
Semi-structured interviews with Veterans (n=22) who experienced potentially harmful exposures during their military service.
Twenty Veterans said they would hypothetically want to receive epigenomic information related to their toxic exposures and potential health impacts as part of a research study. Veterans identified nine potential benefits of this research, including promoting insights concerning intergenerational health, identification of early health interventions to mitigate the impact of exposures, and additional knowledge or explanation for their experiences. At the same time, 16 participants noted potential risks, including psychological distress in response to results, concerns about receiving non-actionable, uncertain, or inaccurate results, and issues related to privacy and discrimination. Ten participants also identified at least one condition in their children that they thought could be related to their exposure and most said they would be interested in receiving research results related to their children's and grandchildren's risk of developing a health condition associated with their exposure.
Results suggest that Veterans might welcome benefits of epigenomic research related to military exposures yet have some concerns about potential negative impacts.
随着2022年《PACT法案》的签署，人们对研究军事服役期间接触的有毒物质产生了浓厚兴趣并进行了投资。解决这一问题的一种方法是识别与接触相关的表观基因组生物标志物。越来越多的证据表明，接触有毒物质可能导致DNA甲基化改变以及由此产生的基因表达变化。这些表观基因组变化可能会对接触者及其后代产生不良健康影响。虽然开发用于接触检测的表观基因组生物标志物有助于理解这些与接触相关的健康影响，但这种检测也可能提供不必要的信息。
探讨退伍军人对表观基因组生物标志物研究的态度，以及检测过去可能带来代际风险的接触情况的可能性。
对在军事服役期间经历过潜在有害接触的退伍军人（n = 22）进行半结构化访谈。
20名退伍军人表示，作为一项研究的一部分，他们假设自己愿意接受与有毒接触及其潜在健康影响相关的表观基因组信息。退伍军人指出了这项研究的九个潜在好处，包括促进对代际健康的认识、确定早期健康干预措施以减轻接触的影响，以及为他们的经历提供更多知识或解释。与此同时，16名参与者指出了潜在风险，包括对检测结果产生心理困扰、担心收到无法采取行动、不确定或不准确的结果，以及与隐私和歧视相关的问题。10名参与者还指出了他们认为可能与自己的接触有关的孩子的至少一种健康状况，大多数人表示他们有兴趣获得与孩子和孙辈因他们的接触而患健康疾病风险相关的研究结果。
结果表明，退伍军人可能欢迎与军事接触相关的表观基因组研究的好处，但对潜在的负面影响也存在一些担忧。
