Chronic exposure to water pollutant trichloroethylene increased epigenetic drift in CD4+ T cells. (May 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gilbert, Kathleen M; Blossom, Sarah J; Erickson, Stephen W; Reisfeld, Brad; Zurlinden, Todd J; Broadfoot, Brannon; West, Kirk; Bai, Shasha; Cooney, Craig A
• Is Part Of: Epigenomics. Volume 8:Number 5(2016)
• Page Start: 633
• Page End: 649
• Publication Date: 2016-05
• Subjects: autoimmunity -- CD4+ T cells -- DNA methylation -- IFN-γ -- immunotoxicity -- next generation sequencing -- quadratic regression -- trichloroethylene; Epigenesis -- Periodicals; Genomics -- Periodicals; Chromatin -- Periodicals; DNA -- Periodicals; 572.87
• DOI: 10.2217/epi-2015-0018
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1750-1911

Abstract

Aim: Autoimmune disease and CD4 + T-cell alterations are induced in mice exposed to the water pollutant trichloroethylene (TCE). We examined here whether TCE altered gene-specific DNA methylation in CD4 + T cells as a possible mechanism of immunotoxicity.Materials & methods: Naive and effector/memory CD4 + T cells from mice exposed to TCE (0.5 mg/ml in drinking water) for 40 weeks were examined by bisulfite next-generation DNA sequencing.Results: A probabilistic model calculated from multiple genes showed that TCE decreased methylation control in CD4 + T cells. Data from individual genes fitted to a quadratic regression model showed that TCE increased gene-specific methylation variance in both CD4 subsets.Conclusion: TCE increased epigenetic drift of specific CpG sites in CD4 + T cells.