Long-term Air Pollution Exposure, Genome-wide DNA Methylation and Lung Function in the LifeLines Cohort Study

Background: Long-term air pollution exposure is negatively associated with lung function, yet the mechanisms underlying this association are not fully clear. Differential DNA methylation may explain this association. Objectives: Our main aim was to study the association between long-term air pollution exposure and DNA methylation. Methods: We performed a genome-wide methylation study using robust linear regression models in 1,017 subjects from the LifeLines cohort study to analyze the association between exposure to nitrogen dioxide ( NO2) and particulate matter ( PM2.5, fine particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5μm; PM10, particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤10μm) and PM2.5absorbance, indicator of elemental carbon content (estimated with land-use-regression models) with DNA methylation in whole blood (Illumina® HumanMethylation450K BeadChip). Replication of the top hits was attempted in two independent samples from the population-based Cooperative Health Research in the Region of Augsburg studies (KORA). Results: Depending on the p-value threshold used, we found significant associations between NO2 exposure and DNA methylation for seven CpG sites (Bonferroni corrected threshold p<1.19×10−7) or for 4,980 CpG sites (False Discovery Rate<0.05). The top associated CpG site was annotated to the PSMB9 gene (i.e., cg04908668). None of the seven Bonferroni significant CpG-sites were significantly replicated in the two KORA-cohorts. No associations were found for PM exposure. Conclusions: Long-term NO2 exposure was genome-wide significantly associated with DNA methylation in the identification cohort but not in the replication cohort. Future studies are needed to further elucidate the potential mechanisms underlying NO2-exposure–related respiratory disease. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP2045