Potential Impacts of FB1 Exposure on Global DNA Methylation in Pancreatic Cells

<strong>Background and Aims: </strong>Fumonisin B1 (FB1), which emerges from the contamination of corn and similar products by <em>Fusarium </em>species, causes a high risk for human and animal health. There are studies showing that FB1 causes carcinogenesis in the kidney and liver, but there is no study yet on the toxic effects of this molecule, which has an effect on lipid metabolism, on the pancreas. Because FB1 shows its toxic effects through nongenotoxic mechanisms, this study aimed to investigate the effects of FB1 on DNA methylation, an important epigenetic biomarker, in human pancreatic epithelial carcinoma cells (PANC-1). <strong>Methods:</strong> PANC-1 cells treated with FB1 at concentrations of 10, 50, and 100 µM for 24 h were evaluated for global DNA methylation and expression of <em>DNMT1, DNMT3a</em>, and <em>DNMT3b</em> genes. <strong>Results:</strong> It was found that exposure to 100 µM of FB1 increased global DNA methylation by 2.15-fold, however this phenomenon was not found to be associated with the changes in the gene expression of <em>DNMT</em>s. <strong>Conclusion:</strong> The findings of this study indicate that high doses (100 µM) of FB1 resulted in global DNA methylation in PANC-1 cells. However, this increase was not associated with a change in the gene expression of <em>DNMT</em> enzymes. Consequently, further research is required to gain a deeper understanding of the epigenetic effects of FB1.