6533b873fe1ef96bd12d4c71

RESEARCH PRODUCT

DNA methylation changes associated with prenatal mercury exposure:A meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies from PACE consortium

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Mercury (Hg) is a ubiquitous heavy metal that originates from both natural and anthropogenic sources and is transformed in the environment to its most toxicant form, methylmercury (MeHg). Recent studies suggest that MeHg exposure can alter epigenetic modifications during embryogenesis. In this study, we examined associations between prenatal MeHg exposure and levels of cord blood DNA methylation (DNAm) by meta-analysis in up to seven independent studies (n = 1462) as well as persistence of those relationships in blood from 7 to 8 year-old children (n = 794). In cord blood, we found limited evidence of differential DNAm at cg24184221 in MED31 (β = 2.28 × 10-4, p-value = 5.87 × 10-5) in relation to prenatal MeHg exposure. In child blood, we identified differential DNAm at cg15288800 (β = 0.004, p-value = 4.97 × 10-5), also located in MED31. This repeated link to MED31, a gene involved in lipid metabolism and RNA Polymerase II transcription function, may suggest a DNAm perturbation related to MeHg exposure that persists into early childhood. Further, we found evidence for association between prenatal MeHg exposure and child blood DNAm levels at two additional CpGs: cg12204245 (β = 0.002, p-value = 4.81 × 10-7) in GRK1 and cg02212000 (β = -0.001, p-value = 8.13 × 10-7) in GGH. Prenatal MeHg exposure was associated with DNAm modifications that may influence health outcomes, such as cognitive or anthropometric development, in different populations. INMA: Main funding of the epigenetic studies in INMA were grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Red INMA G03/176, CB06/02/0041), Spanish Ministry of Health (FIS-PI04/1436, FIS-PI08/1151 including FEDER funds, FIS-PI11/00610, FIS-FEDER-PI06/0867, FIS-FEDER-PI03–1615, FIS-FEDER PI16/1288, FIS-FEDER PI19/1338; Miguel Servet FEDER 15/0025 and 20/0006; FIS-FSE: 17/00260), Generalitat de Catalunya-CIRIT 1999SGR 00241, Generalitat Valenciana BEST/2020/059, Fundacio ́ La Marato ́ de TV3 (090,430), EU Commission (261357-MeDALL: Mechanisms of the Development of ALLergy), and European Research Council (268479-BREATHE: Brain dEvelopment and Air polluTion ultrafine particles in school childrEn). Korean exposome study: This study was supported by the Korean Environment Industry & Technology Institute (KEITI) through “the Environmental Health Action Program”, funded by Korea Ministry of Environment (2017001360005). MoBa: The Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study is supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services and the Ministry of Education and Research, NIH/NIEHS (contract no N01-ES-75558), NIH/NINDS (grant no.1 UO1 NS 047537–01 and grant no.2 UO1 NS 047537–06A1). MoBa1 and MoBa 2 are supported by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (Z01-ES-49019) and Norwegian Research Council/BIOBANK (grant no 221097). The work in MoBa3 was supported in part by a Postdoctoral Fellowship grant from the Ulleval Hospitals Research Council (now under Oslo University Hospital) and travel grants from the Unger-Vetlesens foundation and the Norwegian American Womens Club, all to M.C.M.K. MoBa3 epigenomics data analyses were funded by INCA/Plan Cancer-EVA-INSERM, France, and the International Childhood Cancer Cohort Consortium (I4C), and performed by the Epigenetics Group at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC, Lyon, France), A.G. was supported by the grant from INCA/Plan Cancer-EVA-INSERM (France, 2015) to Z.H. and also by the IARC Postdoctoral Fellowship, partially supported by the EC FP7 Marie Curie Actions-People-Co-funding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND). Project Viva: The Project Viva cohort is funded by NIH grants R01HL111108, R01NR013945, and R37 HD034568. RHEA: The Rhea project was financially supported by European projects, and the Greek Ministry of Health (Program of Prevention of Obesity and Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Preschool Children, in Heraklion district, Crete, Greece: 2011–2014; ‘Rhea Plus': Primary Prevention Program of Environmental Risk Factors for Reproductive Health, and Child Health: 2012–2015). The work was also supported by MICINN (MTM2015-68140-R), Centro Nacional de Genotipado-CEGEN-PRB2-ISCIII, the H2020-EU.3.1.2. - Preventing Disease Programme (grant agreement no 874583) (ATHLETE project), and from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant Agreement number: 733206) (Early Life stressors and Lifecycle Health (LIFECYCLE)).