RESEARCH ARTICLE

Association of exposure to deoxynivalenol with DNA methylation in white blood cells in children in China

¹NHC Key Laboratory of Food Safety Risk Assessment, China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment, No. 2 Building, Guangqu Road 37, Chao Yang District, 100022 Beijing, China P.R.

, X.D. Wang Related information

¹NHC Key Laboratory of Food Safety Risk Assessment, China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment, No. 2 Building, Guangqu Road 37, Chao Yang District, 100022 Beijing, China P.R.

, J.F. Sun Related information

²School of Public Health, Southeast University, No. 87 Dingjiaqiao, Gu Lou District, 210009 Nanjing, China P.R.

, J. Liang Related information

¹NHC Key Laboratory of Food Safety Risk Assessment, China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment, No. 2 Building, Guangqu Road 37, Chao Yang District, 100022 Beijing, China P.R.

, P.P. Zhou Related information

¹NHC Key Laboratory of Food Safety Risk Assessment, China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment, No. 2 Building, Guangqu Road 37, Chao Yang District, 100022 Beijing, China P.R.

, H.B. Xu Related information

¹NHC Key Laboratory of Food Safety Risk Assessment, China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment, No. 2 Building, Guangqu Road 37, Chao Yang District, 100022 Beijing, China P.R.

, H. Yang Related information

¹NHC Key Laboratory of Food Safety Risk Assessment, China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment, No. 2 Building, Guangqu Road 37, Chao Yang District, 100022 Beijing, China P.R.
^*Corresponding author 1: yanghui@cfsa.net.cn

, L. Zhang Related information

^*Corresponding author 1: yanghui@cfsa.net.cn ^*Corresponding author 2: zhanglei@cfsa.net.cn

https://doi.org/10.3920/WMJ2021.2699

Published Online: October 22, 2021

Abstract

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a mycotoxin that commonly contaminates cereals worldwide. Dietary exposure to DON is a subject of great public health concern, but studies on the health effects of chronic exposure to DON are not available. In this study, we investigated the connection between DNA methylation levels and DON exposure in children. The DNA methylation status of white blood cells from 32 children aged 2~15 years old in Henan, China, was profiled. A total of 378 differentially methylated CpGs were identified between the high and low DON exposure groups, and 8 KEGG pathways were found to be significantly enriched among the differentially methylated genes. In addition, the quantitative methylation of EIF2AK4, EMID2 and GNASAS was analysed using the Sequenom MassARRAY platform. The results showed that the methylation level of EIF2AK4 was significantly different between the two groups, and the methylation levels were associated with exposure to DON. Conclusively, our study found that chronic exposure to DON during childhood could affect DNA methylation levels.

Keywords:

deoxynivalenol, methylation, exposure, epigenetics