Pollution-Related Asthma May Start in the Womb

It has been somewhat assumed that children living in cities with high air pollution are at a greater risk of developing asthma, but it was unknown when the exposure was causing the genetic change. The University of Cincinnati and Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health have recently conducted the first study to determine whether the effects of exposure to prenatal ambient air pollution can be linked to changes associated with asthma. The study was conducted using umbilical cord blood of New York City children whose mothers wore backpack air monitors to determine the level of pollutant exposure.

In the white blood cells of the blood samples, it was discovered that a new biomarker may be associated with prenatal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons common in air pollution caused by the burning of car fuels. This marker is an epigenetic alteration in the gene ACSL3 expressed in the lung meaning that the gene expression is changed due to a cause other than to changes in the DNA itself. It was found that there is a strong relationship between changes in ACSL3 methylation and maternal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. ACSL3 is also associated with asthma symptoms seen in children before the age of five. Knowing a potential marker for asthma allows early treatment to hopefully prevent any complications later from the disease.

Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health has been studying the effects of prenatal exposure to pollutants since 1998 in children of non-smoking African-American and Dominican women.

Link to Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090214082110.htm