Early life exposure to cigarette smoke is associated with lung function changes and primes gene expression and DNA methylation changes at Cyp1a1 upon exposure later in life

Prenatal and early life exposure to cigarette smoke (CS) have repeatedly been shown to induce stable, long-term changes in DNA methylation (DNAm) in offspring. It has been hypothesized that these changes might be functionally related to the known outcomes of prenatal and early life CS exposure, which include impaired lung development, altered lung function and increased risk of asthma and wheeze. However, to date, few studies have examined DNAm changes induced by prenatal CS in tissues of the lung, and even fewer have attempted to examine the specific influences of prenatal versus early postnatal exposures. Here, we have established a mouse model of CS exposure which isolates the effects of prenatal and early postnatal CS exposures in early life. We have used this model to measure the effects of prenatal and/or postnatal CS exposures on lung function and immune cell infiltration as well as DNAm and expression of Cyp1a1, a candidate gene previously observed to demonstrate DNAm differences upon CS exposure in humans. Our study revealed that exposure to CS prenatally and in the early postnatal period cause long-lasting differences in offspring lung function, gene expression and lung Cyp1a1 DNAm, which wane over time but are reestablished upon re-exposure to CS in adulthood. This study creates a testable mouse model which can be used to investigate the effects of prenatal and early postnatal CS exposures and will contribute to the design of intervention strategies to mediate these detrimental effects.