Occupational exposure to pesticides is associated with differential DNA methylation.

Diana A van der Plaat, Kim de Jong, Maaike de Vries, Cleo C van Diemen, Ivana Nedeljkovic, Najaf Amin, Hans Kromhout, Roel Vermeulen, Dirkje S Postma, Cornelia M van Duijn, H. Marike Boezen, Judith M Vonk, Biobank-based Integrative Omics Study Consortium

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

    Abstract

    OBJECTIVES: Occupational pesticide exposure is associated with a wide range of diseases, including lung diseases, but it is largely unknown how pesticides influence airway disease pathogenesis. A potential mechanism might be through epigenetic mechanisms, like DNA methylation. Therefore, we assessed associations between occupational exposure to pesticides and genome-wide DNA methylation sites. METHODS: 1561 subjects of LifeLines were included with either no (n=1392), low (n=108) or high (n=61) exposure to any type of pesticides (estimated based on current or last held job). Blood DNA methylation levels were measured using Illumina 450K arrays. Associations between pesticide exposure and 420 938 methylation sites (CpGs) were assessed using robust linear regression adjusted for appropriate confounders. In addition, we performed genome-wide stratified and interaction analyses by gender, smoking and airway obstruction status, and assessed associations between gene expression and methylation for genome-wide significant CpGs (n=2802). RESULTS: In total for all analyses, high pesticide exposure was genome-wide significantly (false discovery rate P
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)427-435
    Number of pages9
    JournalOccupational and Environmental Medicine
    Volume75
    Issue number6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jun 2018

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Occupational exposure to pesticides is associated with differential DNA methylation.'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this