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3.8 Unit Summary and Review

Key Takeaways

This chapter highlighted the shift away from the nature versus nurture debate and explored the pitfalls of genetic determinism. It emphasized the importance of the developmental origins of health and disease, developmental programming, and ontogeny, particularly during critical periods of growth and development. Epigenetics can regulate gene expression without altering the DNA sequence by altering gene expression. Most of these changes are reversible, allowing for adaptability to environmental stimuli. The exposome—encompassing social and environmental exposures—significantly influences health outcomes through its impact on the epigenome, and is closely tied to the social determinants of health. This chapter also examined the link between epigenetic changes and diseases such as cancer and imprinting disorders and illustrated the use of epigenetics in tumour profiling and personalized treatment approaches. As epigenetic research progresses, it holds the potential for considerable policy implications.

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Additional Optional Readings:

  1. Bernabeu, E., McCartney, D. L., Gadd, D. A., Hillary, R. F., Lu, A. T., Murphy, L., Wrobel, N., Campbell, A., Harris, S. E., Liewald, D., Hayward, C., Sudlow, C., Cox, S. R., Evans, K. L., Horvath, S., McIntosh, A. M., Robinson, M. R., Vallejos, C. A., & Marioni, R. E. (2023). Refining epigenetic prediction of chronological and biological age. Genome Medicine, 15(1), 12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13073-023-01161-y
  2. Gabbianelli, R., Bordoni, L., Morano, S., Calleja-Agius, J., & Lalor, J. G. (2020). Nutri-epigenetics and gut microbiota: How birth care, bonding and breastfeeding can influence and be influenced? International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21(14), 5032. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21145032
  3. Gluckman, P. D., Buklijas, T., & Hanson, M. A. (2016). The developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) concept: Past, present, and future. In: c. S. Rosenfeld (ed.), The Epigenome and Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (pp. 1-15). Academic Press. http://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-801383-0.00001-3
  4. Grezenko, H., Ekhator, C., Nwabugwu, N. U., Ganga, H., Affaf, M., Abdelaziz, A. M., Rehman, A., Shehryar, A., Abbasi, F. A., Bellegarde, S. B., & Khaliq, A. S. (2023). Epigenetics in neurological and psychiatric disorders: A comprehensive review of current understanding and future perspectives. Cureus, 15(8), e43960. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.43960
  5. Harden, K.P. (2023). Genetic determinism, essentialism and reductionism: semantic clarity for contested science. Nature Reviews Genetics, 24, 197–204. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-022-00537-x.
  6. Lacagnina S. (2019). The developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD). American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 14(1), 47–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/1559827619879694
  7. Luyten, L. J., Saenen, N. D.,  Janssen, B. G., Vrijens, K., Plusquin, M., Roels, H. A., Debacq-Chainiaux, F., & Nawrot, T. S. (2018). Air pollution and the fetal origin of disease: A systematic review of the molecular signatures of air pollution exposure in human placenta. Environmental Research, 166, 310-323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2018.03.025.
  8. Martin, C. L., Ghastine, L., Lodge, E. K., Dhingra, R., & Ward-Caviness, C. K. (2022). Understanding health inequalities through the lens of social epigenetics. Annual Review of Public Health, 43, 235–254. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-052020-105613

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Except where otherwise noted, this content is written by Andrea Gretchev, CC BY-NC 4.0.

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Precision Healthcare: Genomics-Informed Nursing Copyright © 2025 by Andrea Gretchev, RN, MN, CCNE is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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