Paternal obesity is associated with IGF2 hypomethylation in newborns: results from a Newborn Epigenetics Study (NEST) cohort.
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2013-02-06
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Abstract
Background
Data from epidemiological and animal model studies suggest that nutrition during pregnancy may affect the health status of subsequent generations. These transgenerational effects are now being explained by disruptions at the level of the epigenetic machinery. Besides in vitro environmental exposures, the possible impact on the reprogramming of methylation profiles at imprinted genes at a much earlier time point, such as during spermatogenesis or oogenesis, has not previously been considered. In this study, our aim was to determine associations between preconceptional obesity and DNA methylation profiles in the offspring, particularly at the differentially methylated regions (DMRs) of the imprinted Insulin-like Growth Factor 2 (IGF2) gene.Methods
We examined DNA from umbilical cord blood leukocytes from 79 newborns, born between July 2005 and November 2006 at Duke University Hospital, Durham, NC. Their mothers participated in the Newborn Epigenetics Study (NEST) during pregnancy. Parental characteristics were obtained via standardized questionnaires and medical records. DNA methylation patterns at two DMRs were analyzed by bisulfite pyrosequencing; one DMR upstream of IGF2 (IGF2 DMR), and one DMR upstream of the neighboring H19 gene (H19 DMR). Multiple regression models were used to determine potential associations between the offspring's DNA methylation patterns and parental obesity before conception. Obesity was defined as body mass index (BMI) ≥30 kg/m².Results
Hypomethylation at the IGF2 DMR was associated with paternal obesity. Even after adjusting for several maternal and newborn characteristics, we observed a persistent inverse association between DNA methylation in the offspring and paternal obesity (β-coefficient was -5.28, P = 0.003). At the H19 DMR, no significant associations were detected between methylation patterns and paternal obesity. Our data suggest an increase in DNA methylation at the IGF2 and H19 DMRs among newborns from obese mothers, but a larger study is warranted to further explore the potential effects of maternal obesity or lifestyle on the offspring's epigenome.Conclusions
While our small sample size is limited, our data indicate a preconceptional impact of paternal obesity on the reprogramming of imprint marks during spermatogenesis. Given the biological importance of imprinting fidelity, our study provides evidence for transgenerational effects of paternal obesity that may influence the offspring's future health status.Type
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Soubry, Adelheid, Joellen M Schildkraut, Amy Murtha, Frances Wang, Zhiqing Huang, Autumn Bernal, Joanne Kurtzberg, Randy L Jirtle, et al. (2013). Paternal obesity is associated with IGF2 hypomethylation in newborns: results from a Newborn Epigenetics Study (NEST) cohort. BMC medicine, 11(1). p. 29. 10.1186/1741-7015-11-29 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/24718.
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Scholars@Duke
Joellen Martha Schildkraut
Dr. Schildkraut is an epidemiologist whose research includes the molecular epidemiology of ovarian, breast and brain cancers. Dr. Schildkraut's research interests include the study of the interaction between genetic and environmental factors. She is currently involved in a large study of genome wide association and ovarian cancer risk and survival. Some of her work is also focused on particular genetic pathways including the DNA repair and apoptosis pathways. She currently leads a study of African American women diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She is also collaborating in a large a case-control study of meningioma risk factors and with which a genome wide association analysis is about to commence.
Zhiqing Huang
Dr. Huang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Reproductive Sciences, at Duke University Medical Center. She obtained her MD at North China Coal Medical University in China and her PhD at the University of Heidelberg in Germany under the mentorship of Dr. Ralph Witzgall. She did her postdoctoral training with Dr. Jiemin Wong at Baylor College of Medicine, studying how histone methylation and chromatin modifications regulate androgen receptor transcription.
Dr. Huang’s research includes the following:
•The factors in the tumor microenvironment contribute to ovarian cancer progress;
•New drug development for recurrent ovarian cancer treatment;
•The early DNA methylation profiles contribute to cancer development in late life;
•The special changes in the tumor microenvironment;
•Epigenetics and epigenomics.
*The impact of lipid metabolism in the tumor microenvironment in cancer progression and treatment.
*Impact of ferroptosis in endometriosis development.
Dr. Huang has received an R03 funding titled “Role of Age-Related Changes in the Tumor Microenvironment on Ovarian Cancer Progression” from NIA at NIH for 2021-2023.
Dr. Huang received Charles B. Hammond's Research Fund from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Duke University in November 2022, for a project titled "Single Cell Spatial Transcriptomics in Highly Aggressive and Less Aggressive Ovarian Cancer".
Dr. Huang has received Duke Cancer Institute 2023 spring pilot study award for07012023-06302024, the project title is "Age Effects on Chemotherapy Targeting Cells Causing Ovarian Cancer Recurrence”.
Dr. Huang has received the American Cancer Society -Duke Cancer Institute (ASC-DCI) 2024 spring pilot study award for 07012024-06302025. The project title is "Early Establishment of Epigenetic Profiles that Increase Cancer Risk in Late Life”.
Dr. Huang received Charles B. Hammond's Research Fund from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Duke University in November 2023 for 01012024-12312024. The project's title is "Age Effects on Chemotherapy Targeting Cells Causing Ovarian Cancer Recurrence".
Joanne Kurtzberg
Dr. Kurtzberg is an internationally renowned expert in pediatric hematology/oncology, pediatric blood and marrow transplantation, umbilical cord blood banking and transplantation, and novel applications of cord blood and birthing tissues in the emerging fields of cellular therapies and regenerative medicine. Dr. Kurtzberg serves as the Director of the Marcus Center for Cellular Cures (MC3), Director of the Pediatric Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program, Director of the Carolinas Cord Blood Bank, and Co-Director of the Stem Cell Transplant Laboratory at Duke University. The Carolinas Cord Blood Bank is an FDA licensed public cord blood bank distributing unrelated cord blood units for donors for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) through the CW Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program. The Robertson GMP Cell Manufacturing Laboratory supports manufacturing of RETHYMIC (BLA, Enzyvant, 2021), allogeneic cord tissue derived and bone marrow derived mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), and DUOC, a microglial/macrophage cell derived from cord blood.
Dr. Kurtzberg’s research in MC3 focuses on translational studies from bench to bedside, seeking to develop transformative clinical therapies using cells, tissues, molecules, genes, and biomaterials to treat diseases and injuries that currently lack effective treatments. Recent areas of investigation in MC3 include clinical trials investigating the safety and efficacy of autologous and allogeneic cord blood in children with neonatal brain injury – hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), cerebral palsy (CP), and autism. Clinical trials testing allogeneic cord blood are also being conducted in adults with acute ischemic stroke. Clinical trials optimizing manufacturing and testing the safety and efficacy of cord tissue MSCs in children with autism, CP and HIE and adults with COVID-lung disease are underway. DUOC, given intrathecally, is under study in children with leukodystrophies and adults with primary progressive multiple sclerosis.
In the past, Dr. Kurtzberg has developed novel chemotherapeutic drugs for acute leukemias, assays enumerating ALDH bright cells to predict cord blood unit potency, methods of cord blood expansion, potency assays for targeted cell and tissue based therapies. Dr. Kurtzberg currently holds several INDs for investigational clinical trials from the FDA. She has also trained numerous medical students, residents, clinical and post-doctoral fellows over the course of her career.
Susan Kay Murphy
Dr. Murphy is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and serves as Chief of the Division of Reproductive Sciences. As a molecular biologist with training in human epigenetics, her research interests are largely centered around the role of epigenetic modifications in health and disease.
Dr. Murphy has ongoing projects on gynecologic malignancies, including approaches to eradicate ovarian cancer cells that survive chemotherapy and later give rise to recurrent disease. Dr. Murphy is actively involved in many collaborative projects relating to the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD).
Her lab is currently working on preconception environmental exposures in males, particularly on the impact of cannabis on the sperm epigenome and the potential heritability of these effects. They are also studying the epigenetic and health effects of in utero exposures, with primary focus on children from the Newborn Epigenetics STudy (NEST), a pregnancy cohort she co-founded who were recruited from central North Carolina between 2005 and 2011. Dr. Murphy and her colleagues continue to follow NEST children to determine relationships between prenatal exposures and later health outcomes.
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