title: Incorporating epigenetic data into the risk assessment process for the toxic metals arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, and mercury: strategies and challenges.
abstract: Exposure to toxic metals poses a serious human health hazard based on ubiquitous environmental presence, the extent of exposure, and the toxicity and disease states associated with exposure. This global health issue warrants accurate and reliable models derived from the risk assessment process to predict disease risk in populations. There has been considerable interest recently in the impact of environmental toxicants such as toxic metals on the epigenome. Epigenetic modifications are alterations to an individual's genome without a change in the DNA sequence, and include, but are not limited to, three commonly studied alterations: DNA methylation, histone modification, and non-coding RNA expression. Given the role of epigenetic alterations in regulating gene and thus protein expression, there is the potential for the integration of toxic metal-induced epigenetic alterations as informative factors in the risk assessment process. In the present review, epigenetic alterations induced by five high priority toxic metals/metalloids are prioritized for analysis and their possible inclusion into the risk assessment process is discussed.
authors: Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC, USA ; Curriculum in Toxicology, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors: Paul D
authors: PD
authors: Ray
authors: Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors: Andrew
authors: A
authors: Yosim
authors: Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC, USA ; Curriculum in Toxicology, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors: Rebecca C
authors: RC
authors: Fry
keywords: DNA methylation; disease; epigenetics; epigenomics; histone modification; miRNA; risk assessment