Air pollution and mutations in the germline: are humans at risk?

Somers, Christopher M. and Cooper, David Neil ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8943-8484 2008. Air pollution and mutations in the germline: are humans at risk? Human Genetics 125 (2) , pp. 119-130. 10.1007/s00439-008-0613-6

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

Genotoxic air pollution is ubiquitous in urban and industrial areas. A variety of studies has linked human exposure to air pollution with a number of different somatic cell endpoints including cancer. However, the potential for inducing mutations in the human germline remains unclear. Sentinel animal studies of germline mutations at tandem-repeat loci (specifically minisatellites and expanded simple tandem repeats) have recently provided proof of principle that germline mutations can be induced in vertebrates (birds and mice) by air pollution under ambient conditions. Although humans may also be susceptible to induced germline mutations in polluted areas, uncertainties regarding causative agents, doses, and mutational mechanisms at repetitive DNA loci currently preclude extrapolation from animal data to the evaluation of human risk. Nevertheless, several recent studies have linked air pollution exposure to DNA damage in human sperm, indicating that our germ cells are not impervious to the genotoxic effects of air pollution. Thus, both sentinel animal and human studies have raised the possibility that ambient air pollution may increase human germline mutation rates, especially at repetitive DNA loci. Given that some human genetic conditions appear to be modulated by length mutations at tandem-repeat loci (e.g. HRAS1 cancers, type 1 diabetes, etc.), there is an urgent need for extensive study in this area. Research should be primarily focused upon: (1) the direct measurement of mutation frequencies at repetitive DNA loci in human male germ cells as a function of air pollution exposure, (2) large-scale epidemiology studies of inherited disorders and tandem-repeat associated genetic conditions and air pollution, and (3) the characterization of mutational mechanisms at hypervariable tandem-repeat loci.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Medicine
Subjects:	Q Science > QH Natural history > QH426 Genetics R Medicine > R Medicine (General)
Publisher:	Springer
ISSN:	0340-6717
Last Modified:	19 Oct 2022 10:05
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/23172

Citation Data

Cited 17 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item