Abstract
Epigenetics are heritable changes in gene expression not coded in the DNA sequence, which stand at the interface between the genome, environmental exposure and development. From an occupational health perspective, epigenetic variants may link workplace exposures and health effects. Therefore, this review aimed to overview possible epigenetic effects induced by welding fumes on exposed workers and health implications. A systematic search was performed on Pubmed, Scopus, and ISI Web of Knowledge databases. DNA methylation changes have been reported in genes responsible for the cardiac autonomic function and coagulation, i.e., LINE-1, GPR133 and F2RL3, in mitochondrial-DNA-sequences involved in the regulation of energy-generation/redox-signaling, as well as in inflammatory activated genes, i.e., iNOS. However, the limited number of retrieved articles, their cross-sectional nature, the lack of a suitable qualitative-quantitative exposure assessment, and the heterogeneity of biological-outcomes investigated, prevent the extrapolation of a definite causal relationship between welding fumes and epigenetic phenomena. Future studies should clarify the function of such epigenetic alterations as possible markers of occupational exposure and early effect, dose-response relationships, and underlying molecular mechanisms. Overall, this may be helpful to guide suitable risk assessment and management strategies to protect the health of workers exposed to welding fumes.
Highlights
The term “epigenetics” defines all the heritable changes in gene expression not coded in the DNA sequence itself, which are able to control development, tissue differentiation and cellular responsiveness [1]
Articles published in languages other than English, in vitro and in vivo experimental studies, review and conference papers, as well as publications not focusing on the association between epigenetic effects induced by welding fume exposure in workers were excluded as not suitable for the review
The positive results obtained with certain epigenetic alterations, following exposure to well-known hazardous welding fumes, and the public health relevance of possible welding fume associated disease manifestations, require further scientific efforts
Summary
The term “epigenetics” defines all the heritable changes in gene expression not coded in the DNA sequence itself, which are able to control development, tissue differentiation and cellular responsiveness [1]. DNA methylation, post-translational histone modifications, and chromatin remodeling are the most used mechanisms that are able to initiate and sustain epigenetic information Overall, this is controlled by the genome sequence, environmental exposure, and stochasticity [2]. Epigenetic effects have been triggered by environmental metals, arsenic in particular, and iron, lead, nickel, cadmium, chromium and manganese, following in the utero, general living and occupational exposures [3,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19] Such alterations attracted great scientific interests as metal exposure is known to have important health impacts, and, in many cases, the mechanisms through which these health effects occur at the cellular and molecular level are poorly understood [3]. Epigenetic phenomena may elucidate the link between risk
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