ArticleEnvironmental health : a global access science source2019
Serum dioxin and DNA methylation in the sperm of operation ranch hand veterans exposed to Agent Orange.
Article in Environmental health : a global access science source, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- 'Omics in environmental epidemiological studies of chemical exposures: A systematic evidence map.Environment international · 2022Pooled it
- Environmental Xenobiotics and Epigenetic Modifications: Implications for Human Health and Disease.Journal of xenobiotics · 2025Review
- Epigenetic processes involved in response to pesticide exposure in human populations: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Environmental epigenetics · 2024Review
- A new approach to study stochastic epigenetic mutations in sperm methylome of Vietnam war veterans directly exposed to Agent Orange.Environmental epigenetics · 2024Article
- Epigenetic link between Agent Orange exposure and type 2 diabetes in Korean veterans.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Article
- Lifetime Postnatal Exposure to Perfluoroalkyl Substance Mixture and DNA Methylation at Twelve Years of Age.Environmental science & technology letters · 2023Article
- Inheritance of paternal lifestyles and exposures through sperm DNA methylation.Nature reviews. Urology · 2023Review
- The Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor, Epigenetics and the Aging Process.The journal of nutrition, health & aging · 2023Article
- Gestational Perfluoroalkyl Substance Exposure and DNA Methylation at Birth and 12 Years of Age: A Longitudinal Epigenome-Wide Association Study.Environmental health perspectives · 2022Article
- DNA methylation in the adipose tissue and whole blood of Agent Orange-exposed Operation Ranch Hand veterans: a pilot study.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2021Article
- Article
- Evidence for germline non-genetic inheritance of human phenotypes and diseases.Clinical epigenetics · 2020Review
- The preconception environment and sperm epigenetics.Andrology · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundExposure to the herbicide Agent Orange during the Vietnam War was widespread and is associated with numerous adverse health outcomes. A continuing concern of veterans is the possibility that exposure to the dioxin-containing herbicide might induce adverse reproductive outcomes. We sought to assess whether exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam was associated with changes in DNA methylation in sperm in a subset of Vietnam veterans who participated in the Air Force Health Study (AFHS).
methodsWe studied 37 members of the AFHS chosen to have no, low, medium or high exposure to Agent Orange, based upon serum dioxin levels obtained during a series of examinations. DNA from stored semen was extracted and DNA methylation assessed on the Illumina 450 K platform.
resultsInitial epigenome-wide analysis returned no loci that survived control for false discovery. However, the TEAD3 gene had four different CpG sites that showed loss of DNA methylation associated with dioxin exposure. Analysis assessing regional DNA methylation changes revealed 36 gene regions, including the region of the imprinted gene H19 to have altered DNA methylation associated with high exposure compared to the low exposure group. Additional comparison of our data with sperm DNA methylation data from Russian boys exposed to dioxin found an additional 5 loci that were altered in both studies and exhibited a consistent direction of association.
conclusionsStudying a small number of sperm samples from veterans enrolled in the AFHS, we did not find evidence of significant epigenome-wide alterations associated with exposure to Agent Orange. However, additional analysis showed that the H19 gene region is altered in the sperm of Agent Orange-exposed Ranch Hand veterans. Our study also replicated several findings of a prior study of dioxin-exposed Russian boys. These results provide additional candidate loci for further investigation and may have implications for the reproductive health of dioxin-exposed individuals.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.