Background: Short-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution has been associated with altered DNA methylation in observational studies, but it remains unclear whether this change mediates the effects on cardiovascular biomarkers.
Objective: To examine the impact of ambient PM2.5 on gene-specific DNA methylation and its potential mediation in the acute effects of PM2.5 on cardiovascular biomarkers.
Methods: We designed a randomized, double-blind crossover trial using true or sham air purifiers for 48h among 35 healthy college students in Shanghai, China, in 2014. We measured blood global methylation estimated in long interspersed nucleotide element-1 (LINE‑1) and Alu repetitive elements, methylation in ten specific genes, and ten cardiovascular biomarkers. We used linear mixed-effect models to examine the associations between PM2.5 and methylation. We also performed causal mediation analyses to evaluate the potential mediation of methylation in the associations between PM2.5 and biomarkers.
Results: Air purification increased DNA methylation in repetitive elements and all candidate genes. An IQR increase (64μg/m(3)) in PM2.5 was significantly associated with reduction of methylation in LINE-1 (1.44%), one pro-inflammatory gene (CD40LG, 9.13%), two pro-coagulant genes (F3, 15.20%; SERPINE1, 3.69%), and two pro-vasoconstriction genes (ACE, 4.64%; EDN1, 9.74%). There was a significant mediated effect (17.82%, P=0.03) of PM2.5 on sCD40L protein through CD40LG hypomethylation. Hypomethylation in other candidate genes generally showed positive but non-significant mediation.
Conclusions: This intervention study provided robust human evidence that ambient PM2.5 could induce rapid decreases in DNA methylation and consequently partly mediate its effects on cardiovascular biomarkers.
Keywords: Air pollution; Cardiovascular biomarker; DNA methylation; Fine particulate matter; Mediation; Randomized controlled trial.
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