砷是一种自然存在的金属致癌物，存在于地壳中。全球数百万人长期通过饮水和食物接触砷。无机砷暴露已被认为与从急性毒性到恶性转化的多种疾病有关。尽管砷能对健康产生危害，但砷介导癌变作用的分子机制尚不完全了解。由于砷不具有突变原性，砷引起癌变的机制是通过改变表观遗传调控基因表达。砷可以通过两种可能的方式修改表观基因组，间接地通过砷诱导活性氧自由基产生而影响染色质重构酶，或直接通过与染色质重构酶的相互作用和调节来实现。无论是直接还是间接的，砷都能调节表观遗传基因调控，并且对这种调节对染色质结构的直接影响的理解还很有限。本章将讨论无机砷影响表观基因组的各种方式，并对其对健康和疾病产生的影响进行分析。版权 © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Arsenic is a naturally occurring metal carcinogen found in the Earth's crust. Millions of people worldwide are chronically exposed to arsenic through drinking water and food. Exposure to inorganic arsenic has been implicated in many diseases ranging from acute toxicities to malignant transformations. Despite the well-known deleterious health effects of arsenic exposure, the molecular mechanisms in arsenic-mediated carcinogenesis are not fully understood. Since arsenic is non-mutagenic, the mechanism by which arsenic causes carcinogenesis is via alterations in epigenetic-regulated gene expression. There are two possible ways by which arsenic may modify the epigenome-indirectly through an arsenic-induced generation of reactive oxygen species which then impacts chromatin remodelers, or directly through interaction and modulation of chromatin remodelers. Whether directly or indirectly, arsenic modulates epigenetic gene regulation and our understanding of the direct effect of this modulation on chromatin structure is limited. In this chapter we will discuss the various ways by which inorganic arsenic affects the epigenome with consequences in health and disease.Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.