Postnatal carcinogenic risks of fetal stage exposure to environmental pollutants and its epigenetic molecular mechanism

胎儿期环境会影响出生后的健康和疾病，这一假说近年来备受关注。在胎儿阶段暴露于二恶英的实验动物在成年后被给予苯并[a]芘等致癌物时容易患癌症。在本研究中，我们用小鼠证明了表观遗传记忆，包括负责致癌物质代谢激活的CYP1A1酶基因的DNA甲基化被围产期暴露于二恶英改变，并揭示了导致这种改变的部分分子机制。

Recently much attention is focused to the hypothesis that the fetal stage environments can influence health and disease after birth. Laboratory animals exposed to dioxin in the fetal stage are prone to cancer when they are administered carcinogens such as benzo[a]pyrene in adulthood. In the present study using mice, we demonstrated that the epigenetic memory including DNA methylation of the gene for CYP1A1 enzyme responsible for metabolic activation of carcinogens was altered by perinatal exposure to dioxin and revealed a part of molecular mechanism causing this alteration.