Prenatal smoke exposure, DNA methylation and a link between DRD1 and lung cancer

We read with interest the recent work by Richmondet al.1 where they describe changes in DNA methylation that persist into adulthood among individuals exposed to second-hand smokein utero. Among the genes affected wasDRD1, also known as dopamine receptor, D1. We were struck by this finding as we previously published work describing a gene –environment interaction between a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) inDRD1 with risk of lung cancer, specifically among individuals exposed to second-hand smoke during childhood, but not adulthood.2 We detected this gene –environment interaction in both ever and never smokers, which is also consistent with the findings of Richmondet al. The SNP of focus in our study was a 3 ′UTR SNP, rs686. While the methylation probe detected in the study by Richmondet al. lies downstream ofDRD1, it is interesting to hypothesize that rs686 could be a tag SNP for a functional locus or methylation expression quantitative trait locus (meQTL) in this gene neighbourhood.
Source: International Journal of Epidemiology - Category: Epidemiology Source Type: research