2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
A risk assessment of autism caused by environmental chemicals using epigenetic information
| Project/Area Number |
18K11679
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Review Section |
Basic Section 64010:Environmental load and risk assessment-related
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| Research Institution | University of Miyazaki |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Project Period (FY) |
2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
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| Keywords | エピジェネティクス / iPS細胞 / 自閉症 / 神経分化 |
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Autism spectrum disorder is a neurological disease that has been increasing in recent years and has become a major social problem. In this study, we focused on the effects of harmful chemicals in the environment and elucidated the pathogenic mechanism of autism based on epigenetic regulation. As a result of analysis using neural differentiation system of human iPS cells, some of the chemicals detected in the maternal environment disturbed the neural differentiation at the concentration in the biological exposure range. In addition, chemical exposure disrupted epigenetics, the regulatory mechanism of gene expression, confirming the effects of chemicals over a wide range of genome. The results indicate that environmental chemicals adversely affect the epigenetic regulation and neural differentiation in vitro.
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| Free Research Field |
分子生物学
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| Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
これまでに自閉症の原因遺伝子が多数報告されているが、遺伝子変異のみでは疾患の発症機序を説明できないのが現状である。本研究は自閉症発症について、環境要因として母体環境中に含まれる有害な化学物質の影響に着目し、遺伝子の発現記憶装置であるエピジェネティクスをもとに、自閉症の発症機序解明に向けた新たな試みである。本研究結果は、従来の遺伝子変異の特定とともに、環境要因による遺伝子発現制御への影響を検証することの重要性を示すものである。今後、化学物質の影響を受けた遺伝子の詳細な解析によって、遺伝子変異のみでは説明が困難であった自閉症の新たな原因究明に繋がることが期待される。
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