GC-CPEH Director, Dr. Cheryl Walker’s recent study published in Nature Communications shows how an early life chemical exposure can permanently reprogram the liver epigenome to cause diet-triggered metabolic dysfunction later in life.
“In our study, we found that even a brief exposure to the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) while the liver was developing caused premature aging of the liver epigenome, made the epigenome of a very young liver to look like that of an older adult,” said Dr. Walker.
“Epigenome environment interactions accelerate epigenomic aging and unlock metabolically restricted epigenetic reprogramming in adulthood.”
Treviño, L.S., Dong, J., Kaushal, A. et al. Nat Commun 11, 2316 (2020).
“What was remarkable, was that this epigenomic reprogramming was transcriptionally silent until animals were placed on a Western-style diet high in calories, fat and cholesterol, at which time the reprogramming kicked in and caused metabolic dysfunction of the liver”. The paper is featured as the “Paper of the Month” by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in June. Read the full BCM press release: https://bcmd8.bcm.edu/news/early-environmental-exposure-impacts-liver-epigenome