Epigenetic Epidemiology: The Rebirth of Soft Inheritance
Epigenetic Epidemiology: The Rebirth of Soft Inheritance
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DOI：
10.1159/000328033
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发表时间：
2011-01-01
影响因子：
3.9
通讯作者：
Gluckman, Peter D.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hanson, Mark A.;Low, Felicia M.;Gluckman, Peter D.
非传染性疾病，如心血管疾病和2型糖尿病，是全世界死亡的主要原因。这些死亡中有80%发生在低收入和中等收入国家，特别是这些国家在传染病负担减轻后社会经济状况有所改善。世界卫生组织预测，未来十年全球非传染性疾病的发病率将大幅增加。非传染性疾病通常是可以预防的，但目前的方法显然是不够的。需要采取新的举措来实施这种预防，并且需要更多地认识到，生命早期干预可能是最有效的。制定适当的预防战略需要了解发展环境如何影响风险。由于过分强调固定的基因组变异（硬遗传）是疾病易感性的主要决定因素，这一领域的进展缓慢。然而，新的证据表明，生命早期发育因素（包括表观遗传过程和“软”遗传）在调节个体对非传染性疾病的易感性方面的重要性要大得多。这也为新的表观遗传风险生物标志物或针对表观遗传途径的干预措施提供了机会，可以设计用于生命早期。这可能为更有效的定制干预铺平道路，以促进整个生命过程的健康。巴塞尔S. Karger股份有限公司版权所有
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, constitute the main cause of death worldwide. Eighty percent of these deaths occur in low-and middle-income countries, especially as these countries undergo socio-economic improvement following reductions in the burden of infectious disease. The World Health Organization predicts a substantial increase in the incidence of NCDs over the next decade globally. NCDs are generally preventable, but current approaches are clearly inadequate. New initiatives are needed to implement such prevention, and there needs to be greater recognition that early-life interventions are likely to be the most efficacious. Devising appropriate prevention strategies necessitates an understanding of how the developmental environment influences risk. Progress in this field has been slow due to an excessive emphasis on fixed genomic variations (hard inheritance) as the major determinants of disease susceptibility. However, new evidence demonstrates the much greater importance of early-life developmental factors, involving epigenetic processes and 'soft' inheritance in modulating an individual's vulnerability to NCD. This also offers opportunities for novel epigenetic biomarkers of risk or interventions targeting epigenetic pathways to be devised for use in early life. This may pave the way to much more effective, customised interventions to promote health across the life course. Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel