Placental Epigenome-Wide Association Study Identified Loci Associated with Childhood Adiposity at 3 Years of Age.

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The aim of this study was to identify placental DNA methylation (DNAm) variations associated with adiposity at 3 years of age. We quantified placental DNAm using the Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChips. We assessed associations between DNAm at single-CpGs and skinfold thickness using robust linear regression models adjusted for gestational age, child's sex, age at follow-up and cellular heterogeneity. We sought replication of DNAm association with child adiposity in an independent cohort. We quantified placental mRNA levels for annotated gene using qRT-PCR and tested for correlation with DNAm. Lower DNAm at cg22593959 and cg22436429 was associated with higher adiposity ( = -1.18, = 0.002 and = -0.82, = 0.04). The cg22593959 is located in an intergenic region (chr7q31.3), whereas cg22436429 is within the gene (1p34.3). DNAm at cg22593959 and cg22436429 was correlated with mRNA levels at (r = -0.279, = 0.005) and (r = 0.216, = 0.03). In an independent cohort, the association between placental DNAm at cg22593959 and childhood adiposity was of similar strength and direction ( = -3.8 ± 4.1, = 0.36), yet non-significant. Four genomic regions were also associated with skinfold thickness within , , and genes. We identified placental epigenetic variations associated with adiposity at 3 years of age suggesting that childhood fat accretion patterns might be established during fetal life.

Investigators
Publication Date
2020-09-29
Volume
21
Issue
19
Pubmed ID
33003475
Medium
Electronic
Full Title
Placental Epigenome-Wide Association Study Identified Loci Associated with Childhood Adiposity at 3 Years of Age.
Authors
Gagné-Ouellet V, Breton E, Thibeault K, Fortin CA, Desgagné V, Girard Tremblay É, Cardenas A, Guérin R, Perron P, Hivert MF, Bouchard L