ArticleClinical epigenetics2019
Early-life exposure to severe famine is associated with higher methylation level in the IGF2 gene and higher total cholesterol in late adulthood: the Genomic Research of the Chinese Famine (GRECF) study.
Article in Clinical epigenetics, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
43 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 78 citations in OpenAlex.
- The association between prenatal famine, DNA methylation and mental disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Clinical epigenetics · 2023Pooled it
- The Potential Physiologic Mechanisms by Which Early-Life Nutrition May Influence Type 2 Diabetes Pathophysiology in Humans.Annual review of nutrition · 2026Review
- Review
- Epigenetic legacy of early-life undernutrition: methodological lessons from Dutch and Chinese famine studies.Frontiers in genetics · 2026Review
- Impact of Early Life Famine Exposure on Body Composition and Metabolic Profiles in Adulthood.Maternal & child nutrition · 2025Article
- Improving the odds of survival: transgenerational effects of infections.EMBO molecular medicine · 2025Review
- Differential Gene Expression Analysis in a Lumbar Spinal Stenosis Rat Model via RNA Sequencing: Identification of Key Molecular Pathways and Therapeutic Insights.Biomedicines · 2025Article
- Exposure to Chinese famine in early life and the risk of multimorbidity in adulthood.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Maternal Nutrition, Toxicants, and Epigenetic Programming of Obesity Across Generations.Diabetes, metabolic syndrome and obesity : targets and therapy · 2025Review
- Detection of DNA methylation from buccal swabs using nanopore sequencing to study stunting.Epigenetics · 2024Article
- From starvation to depression: unveiling the link between the great famine and late-life depression.BMC public health · 2024Article
- How do BMI-restrictive policies impact women seeking NHS-funded IVF in the United Kingdom? A qualitative analysis of online forum discussions.Reproductive health · 2024Article
- Early-life famine exposure and subsequent risk of chronic diseases in later adulthood: a population-based retrospective cohort study.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Separate and combined effects of famine exposure and menarche age on metabolic syndrome among the elderly: a cross-sectional study in China.BMC women's health · 2023Article
- Climate change and epigenetic biomarkers in allergic and airway diseases.The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology · 2023Review
- Article
- Article
- Type 1 diabetes mellitus in the context of high levels of rural deprivation: differences in demographic and anthropometric characteristics between urban and rural cases in NW Ethiopia.Frontiers in clinical diabetes and healthcare · 2023Article
- Epigenetic citizenship and political claims-making: the ethics of molecularizing structural racism.BioSocieties · 2022Article
- Transgenerational epigenetic impacts of parental infection on offspring health and disease susceptibility.Trends in genetics : TIG · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo evaluate the association of early-life exposure to the Chinese Great Famine (1959-1961) with DNA methylation in IGF2 and its subsequent influence on blood lipid levels in late adulthood among participants of the Genomic Research of the Chinese Famine (GRECF) study.
methodsThe GRECF study recruited 790 participants born between 1956 and 1964 from 2 neighbor provinces, Anhui and Jiangxi, in China through a multistage, clustered, random sampling. The current study included a random sample of 188 GRECF participants. IGF2 differential methylation region (DMR) is an intragenic DMR located upstream of the imprinted promoters of IGF2 exon 3. DNA methylation were quantified at 8 cytosine-phosphate-guanine dinucleotides (CpG) sites at the IGF2 DMR (chr11p15.5) using the Sequenom EpiTYPER method and the MassARRAY system. Multivariate linear regressions were used to evaluate pairwise associations among famine severity, DNA methylation in the IGF2 gene, and lipid levels. We controlled for age and sex in the base model and additionally controlled for education, smoking, and drinking status in the fully adjusted model. Mediation analysis was applied to assess the mediation effect of DNA methylation at the IGF2 gene on the association between early-life exposure to severe famine and adult lipid levels.
resultsExposure to severe famine was associated with elevated methylation at CpG1 (chr11: 2126041, build 36) of the IGF2 DMR (β = 0.07; P = 0.0008) and total cholesterol (β = 0.72; P = 1.09 × 10
conclusionIncreased methylation level in the IGF2 gene was associated with early-life exposure to severe famine, and this change was also positively associated with total cholesterol in late adulthood.
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