Association of Low-Dose Exposure to Persistent Organic Pollutants with Global DNA Hypomethylation in Healthy Koreans
Open accessAbstract
Background: Global DNA methylation levels have been reported to be inversely associated with blood levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), xenobiotics that accumulate in adipose tissue. Whether these associations extend to a population with much lower concentrations of POPs is not known. Objectives: This study was performed to examine whether low-dose exposure to POPs was associated with global DNA hypomethylation in Koreans. Methods: The amount of global DNA hypomethylation was estimated by the percent 5-methyl-cytosine (%5-mC) in Alu and LINE-1 assays in 86 apparently healthy Koreans. Among various POPs, organochlorine (OC) pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs) were measured. Results: Most OC pesticides were inversely and significantly associated with %5-mC in the Alu assay, with correlation coefficients in the range −0.2 to −0.3 after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, smoking, and alcohol. The strongest OC pesticide associations with %5-mC in the Alu assay were observed with oxychlordane, trans-nonachlor, and p,p′-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene. The correlation coefficient of age with %5-mC in the Alu assay was −0.24, similar to correlations of OC pesticides with %5-mC in the Alu assay. Most PCBs and PBDEs showed nonsignificant inverse trends with %5-mC in the Alu assay, but for some PCBs the U-shaped association was significant. On the other hand, POPs were not associated with %5-mC in the LINE-1 assay. Conclusions: We found that low-dose exposure to POPs, in particular OC pesticides, was associated with global DNA hypomethylation in apparently healthy Koreans.
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A similar trend was observed in a second population of healthy Koreans for NDL PCB 153, 183, and 187 and in a population of Greenlandic Inuits.
“A similar trend was observed in a second population of healthy Koreans for NDL PCB 153, 183, and 187 [ 37 ] and in a population of Greenlandic Inuits [ 38 ].”
From DNA methylation: a mechanism linking environmental chemical exposures to risk of autism spectrum disorders? (2016) · cites this paper as [37]
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- Authors
- Kim, K.-Y., Kim, D.-S., Lee, S.-K., Lee, I.-K., Kang, J.-H., Chang, Y.-S., Jacobs, D. R., Steffes, M., & Lee, D.-H.
- Affiliations
- Kyungpook National University (KR)
- Pohang University of Science and Technology (KR)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- University of Oslo (NO)
- Corresponding author
- Lee, Duk-Hee
- ORCID
- Venue
- Environmental Health Perspectives
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2009-11-06
- Volume
- 118
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 370-374
- ISSN
- 0091-6765 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-9924
- PMC
- PMC2854765
- OpenAlex
- W2049422251
- Cited by
- 216
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 17
- FWCI
- 3.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- public-domain
- creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (vor, 2975 d)
- Locations
- Environmental Health Perspectives (publishedVersion, public-domain)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, public-domain)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Open Access System for Information Sharing (Pohang University of Science and Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Epigenetics and DNA Methylation
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Toxic Organic Pollutants Impact
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Pesticide Exposure and Toxicity
- Keywords
- persistent organic pollutants, global DNA hypomethylation, DNA methylation, organochlorine pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, Alu elements, LINE-1 elements, 5-methylcytosine, low-dose exposure
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Age Factors, Aged, Demography, Environmental Exposure, Environmental Pollutants, Female, Health, Humans, Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated, Korea, Male, Middle Aged, Organic Chemicals, Pesticides, Polychlorinated Biphenyls, Reference Values, Time Factors, DNA Methylation, Asian People, Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers
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