Grant: Team Grant: Boys' and Men's Health - General

We know that maternal exposures can affect child health, but recent disturbing findings suggest that the effects of environmental exposures can be transmitted by fathers, causing adverse birth outcomes and disease in their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A possible mechanism for paternal transmission of environmental information is via his sperm epigenome. The epigenome is a group of tags on DNA that signal genes when to turn on or off. We will use state-of-the-art approaches and build on existing research investment with international teams to study the father's role in transmitting the effects of his exposures to his future generations. There are international rules restricting organochlorines (e.g. PCBs and some pesticides, including DDT) because they persist in the environment, but DDT is still allowed in many parts of the world where malaria is a danger, such as South Africa. Due to natural weather currents, organochlorines bioaccumulate in the Arctic where they have never been used. Thus, Inuit populations have a high body burden of environmental contaminants through air, water, soil, and food, which may contribute to the major health disparity between them and non-aboriginal Canadians. We will examine the sperm epigenome of Inuit and indigenous South African men to assess abnormalities due to organochlorine exposure. Using a rat model, we will try to fix the damage caused by contaminants using folate, a common vitamin that is prescribed to pregnant mothers to prevent birth defects. We hypothesise that folate will prevent and repair the damage to fathers' sperm epigenome and protect his future generations. We will collaborate with teams in Europe and South Africa. Our team includes people from Health Canada, the Institut national de santé publique du Québec, the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Micronutrient Initiative, who will communicate our research to Canadians to improve the health of men, boys and their future generations.