Research on the relationship between environmental chemical pollutant exposure and epigenetics

Environmental chemical pollutants are increasing, which brings various harms to human health. Epigenetics may be an important medium between exposure to environmental chemical contaminants and adverse health effects. Many environmental chemical pollutant exposures can regulate gene expression and promote disease occurrence and development through epigenetic mechanisms. This review outlines the mechanisms of epigenetics and the latest research advances in exposure and epigenetics of several environmental chemical substances (heavy metal arsenic, bisphenol A, dioctyl phthalate and benzene). To further understand and study the relationship between environmental chemical pollutant exposures and epigenetics in order to elucidate the mechanisms of disease occurrence and development. Key words: Epigenetic regulation; Environmental chemical; Pollutants; Exposure; DNA methylation; Histone modification; miRNA