Associations between indicators of socioeconomic position and DNA methylation: a scoping review

Clinical Epigenetics

Janine Cerutti¹  Jiaxuan Liu²  Yiwen Zhu²  Erin C. Dunn³  Alexandre A. Lussier³ 

[1] Department of Pscyhology, University of Vermont, 2 Colchester Ave, Burlington, VT, USA;Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Center for Genomic Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, 185 Cambridge Street, Simches Research Building 6th Floor, 02114, Boston, MA, USA;Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Center for Genomic Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, 185 Cambridge Street, Simches Research Building 6th Floor, 02114, Boston, MA, USA;Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA;Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Center for Genomic Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, 185 Cambridge Street, Simches Research Building 6th Floor, 02114, Boston, MA, USA;Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA;Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA;

关键词: Socioeconomic factors;    DNA methylation;    Epigenetics;    Systematic review;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s13148-021-01189-0

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundSocioeconomic position (SEP) is a major determinant of health across the life course. Yet, little is known about the biological mechanisms explaining this relationship. One possibility widely pursued in the scientific literature is that SEP becomes biologically embedded through epigenetic processes such as DNA methylation (DNAm), wherein the socioeconomic environment causes no alteration in the DNA sequence but modifies gene activity in ways that shape health.MethodsTo understand the evidence supporting a potential SEP-DNAm link, we performed a scoping review of published empirical findings on the association between SEP assessed from prenatal development to adulthood and DNAm measured across the life course, with an emphasis on exploring how the developmental timing, duration, and type of SEP exposure influenced DNAm.ResultsAcross the 37 identified studies, we found that: (1) SEP-related DNAm signatures varied across the timing, duration, and type of SEP indicator; (2) however, longitudinal studies examining repeated SEP and DNAm measures are generally lacking; and (3) prior studies are conceptually and methodologically diverse, limiting the interpretability of findings across studies with respect to these three SEP features.ConclusionsGiven the complex relationship between SEP and DNAm across the lifespan, these findings underscore the importance of analyzing SEP features, including timing, duration, and type. To guide future research, we highlight additional research gaps and propose four recommendations to further unravel the relationship between SEP and DNAm.

【 授权许可】

CC BY