Table 1.
Main characteristics of the studies (all three were cohort studies) conducted in humans analyzing associations between prenatal exposure to cadmium and epigenetic changes
| First author, year | Population; n | Prenatal cadmium exposure, concentration (range) | Epigenetic modification | Tissue/s | Expression changes | Main outcomes in relation to cadmium exposure |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boeke CE, 2012 | Massachusetts, USA; n = 557 mother-child pairs | Estimated by FFQ (T1), AM: 15.38 μg/day (14.7–16.3) | Global DNA methylation (LINE-1 methylation) | Maternal blood (T1 and T3), cord blood | Na | Hypermethylation in maternal DNA (T1), hypomethylation in fetal DNA |
| Kippler M, 2013 | Matlab, Bangladesh; n = 127 mother-child pairs | Urine (GW8), M 0.77 μg/L (0.25–2.4); Blood (GW14), M 1.3 μg/kg (0.54–3.1) | Genome-wide DNA methylation (450 K array) | Cord blood, children blood (4.5 years) | Na | Sex-specific correlations with maternal blood cadmium: in boys, 96 % of 500 top CpG sites hypermethylated; in girls, 21 % hypermethylated |
| Sanders AP, 2014 | North Carolina, USA; n = 17 mother-child pairs | Blood (T3); AM: 0.44 μg/L (0–1.05) | Genome-wide DNA methylation (MIRA, Affimetrix array) | Maternal blood (T3), cord blood | Na | Maternal DNA: hypermethylation in 81 genes hypomethylation in 11 genes fetal DNA: hypermethylation in 90 genes hypomethylation in 1 gene |
T1/T3 first/third trimester of pregnancy, M median, AM arithmetic mean, GW gestational week, FFQ food frequency questionnaire, LINE-1 long interspersed nuclear element-1, 450 K Illumina Infinium Human Methylation 450, MIRA methylated CpG island recovery assay; expression changes refer to the level of mRNA and/or protein