Effects of Prenatal Exposure to Endocrine Disruptors and Toxic Metals on The Fetal Epigenome

Abstract

Exposure to environmental contaminants during pregnancy has been linked to adverse outcomes at birth and later in life. The link between prenatal exposures and latent health outcomes suggests that these exposures may result in long-term epigenetic reprogramming. Toxic metals and endocrine disruptors are two major classes of contaminants that are ubiquitously present in the environment and represent threats to human health. In this review, we present evidence that prenatal exposures to these contaminants result in fetal epigenomic changes, including altered global DNA methylation, gene-specific CpG methylation and microRNA expression. Importantly, these changes may have functional cellular consequences, impacting health outcomes later in life. Therefore, these epigenetic changes represent a critical mechanism that warrants further study.

Keywords::

• DNA methylation
• endocrine disruptors
• environmental exposure
• epigenetics
• fetal epigenome
• in utero
• prenatal
• toxic metals

Supplementary data

To view the supplementary data that accompany this paper please visit the journal website at: www.tandfonline.com/doi/suppl/10.2217/3dp-2022-0019

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank C Reed for her assistance with the figures.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (T32ES007018 and P42ES005948). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (T32ES007018 and P42ES005948). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.