Abstract
Aim: We investigated global DNA methylation alterations in lymphocytes of solvent workers and chronic toxic encephalopathy (CTE) patients and explored potential gene–environment interactions for GST. Population & methods: A cross-sectional study was set up in 41 referents, 128 solvent workers and 23 CTE patients. Results: We found a global DNA hypermethylation in the solvent-exposed population compared with the referents (p = 0.001, r = -0.544). Global DNA methylation was negatively associated with exposure. Furthermore, GSTP1 genotypic polymorphism was found to be significantly associated (p = 0.033) with global DNA hypomethylation, which indicates a potential role for gene–environment interaction in the etiology of solvent-induced neurobehavioral disorders. Conclusion: This study indicates that solvent-induced DNA methylation alterations have an impact on neurotoxicity and development of CTE.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
This work was supported by Research Grant number G.0753.10 of the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO). 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.
Ethical conduct of research
The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. In addition, for investigations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.