[ad_1]
A new study from Northwestern University challenges the current understanding of genes as immutable characteristics of biology that are set at conception.
Previous research has shown that socio-economic status (SES) is a powerful determinant of human health and disease, and that social inequality is an ubiquitous stressor for human populations at large. global scale. A lower level of education and / or income predicts an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, many cancers and infectious diseases, for example. In addition, a lower SES is badociated with physiological processes that contribute to the development of a disease, including chronic inflammation, insulin resistance and dysregulation of cortisol.
In this study, researchers found evidence that poverty can take root in large parts of the genome. They found that lower socio-economic status was badociated with DNA methylation levels (DNAm) – a key epigenetic mark capable of shaping gene expression – at more than 2,500 sites, over 1500 genes.
In other words, poverty marks nearly 10% of the genes in the genome.
Lead author Thomas McDade said this is significant for two reasons.
"First, we've known for a long time that socio-economic status is a powerful determinant of health, but the underlying mechanisms by which our body" remembers "the experience of poverty are not known, said McDade, professor of anthropology at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern and director of the Research Laboratory in Human Biology.
"Our results suggest that DNA methylation could play an important role, and the wide range of badociations between SES and DNAm is consistent with the wide range of biological systems and health outcomes that we know how to be shaped by the SSE. "
Secondly, said McDade, also a faculty member at the Northwestern Institute for Policy Research, the experiences gained during development are embodied in the genome, literally shaping its structure and function.
"There is no nature against feeding," he adds.
McDade is surprised to see so many badociations between socio-economic status and DNA methylation, on so many genes.
"This diagram highlights a potential mechanism by which poverty can have a lasting impact on a wide range of physiological systems and processes," he said.
Follow-up studies will be needed to determine the health consequences of differential methylation at the sites identified by the researchers, but many genes are badociated with processes related to the immune response to infection, skeletal development and the nervous system.
"These are the areas we will focus on to determine whether DNA methylation is really an important mechanism by which socio-economic status can leave a lasting molecular footprint on the body, with implications for health." later in life, "said McDade.
"Genome-wide badysis of DNA methylation in relation to socio-economic status during development and early adulthood", recently published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. In addition to McDade, co-authors include Calen P. Ryan, Northwestern; Meaghan J. Jones, University of British Columbia; Morgan K. Hoke, University of Pennsylvania; Judith Borja, University of San Carlos; Gregory E. Miller and Christopher W. Kuzawa of Northwestern; and Michael S. Kobor, University of British Columbia.
Source link
