TY - JOUR
T1 - Immune epigenetic age in pregnancy and 1 year after birth
T2 - Associations with weight change
AU - Ross, Kharah M.
AU - Carroll, Judith
AU - Horvath, Steve
AU - Hobel, Calvin J.
AU - Coussons-Read, Mary E.
AU - Dunkel Schetter, Christine
N1 - Funding Information:
All protocols and methods were reviewed and approved by the University of California—Los Angeles, Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre institutional review boards, and participants provided written informed consent. All authors have reviewed this manuscript and consent to its publication. Data will be deposited following completion of all data analyses, but are available upon request from J. Carroll and C. Dunkel Schetter. The authors report no competing interests. Healthy Babies Before Birth (HB3) Study was supported by funding from NIH (R01 HD073491: MPI: Coussons-Read & Dunkel Schetter). Additional epigenetic assays were funded by the NIH/National Center for Advancing Translational Science UCLA CTSI Grant (UL1TR001881). REDCap is supported by the Colorado Clinical & Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI) with the Development and Informatics Service Center (DISC) grant support [NIH/NCRR Colorado CTSI Grant Number UL1 RR025780] and by the UCLA Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology. K. Ross conducted analyses and led writing the manuscript, J. Carroll advised on direction of analyses and manuscript, S. Horvath advised on epigenetic clock and related analyses, and C. Dunkel Schetter and M. Cousins Read oversaw the larger study design, data collection, and advised on the manuscript. The authors thank the participants and the staff especially Dr Roberta Mancuso, Project Coordinator in Denver and Susan Jackman, RN, Coordinator of the Cedars Sinai Health Center site.
Funding Information:
All protocols and methods were reviewed and approved by the University of California—Los Angeles, Cedars‐Sinai Medical Centre institutional review boards, and participants provided written informed consent. All authors have reviewed this manuscript and consent to its publication. Data will be deposited following completion of all data analyses, but are available upon request from J. Carroll and C. Dunkel Schetter. The authors report no competing interests. Healthy Babies Before Birth (HB3) Study was supported by funding from NIH (R01 HD073491: MPI: Coussons‐Read & Dunkel Schetter). Additional epigenetic assays were funded by the NIH/National Center for Advancing Translational Science UCLA CTSI Grant (UL1TR001881). REDCap is supported by the Colorado Clinical & Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI) with the Development and Informatics Service Center (DISC) grant support [NIH/NCRR Colorado CTSI Grant Number UL1 RR025780] and by the UCLA Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology. K. Ross conducted analyses and led writing the manuscript, J. Carroll advised on direction of analyses and manuscript, S. Horvath advised on epigenetic clock and related analyses, and C. Dunkel Schetter and M. Cousins Read oversaw the larger study design, data collection, and advised on the manuscript. The authors thank the participants and the staff especially Dr Roberta Mancuso, Project Coordinator in Denver and Susan Jackman, RN, Coordinator of the Cedars Sinai Health Center site.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd
PY - 2020/5/1
Y1 - 2020/5/1
N2 - Problem: Epigenetic age indices are markers of biological aging determined from DNA methylation patterns. Accelerated epigenetic age predicts morbidity and mortality. Women tend to demonstrate slower blood epigenetic aging compared to men, possibly due to female-specific hormones and reproductive milestones. Pregnancy and the post-partum period are critical reproductive periods that have not been studied yet with respect to epigenetic aging. The purpose of this paper was to examine whether pregnancy itself and an important pregnancy-related variable, changes in body mass index (BMI) between pregnancy and the post-partum period, are associated with epigenetic aging. Method of Study: A pilot sample of 35 women was recruited as part of the Healthy Babies Before Birth (HB3) project. Whole blood samples were collected at mid-pregnancy and 1 year post-partum. DNA methylation at both time points was assayed using Infinium 450K and EPIC chips. Epigenetic age indices were calculated using an online calculator. Results: Paired-sample t-tests were used to test differences in epigenetic age indices from pregnancy to 1 year after birth. Over this critical time span, women became younger with respect to phenotypic epigenetic age, GrimAge, DNAm PAI-1, and epigenetic age indices linked to aging-related shifts in immune cell populations, known as extrinsic epigenetic age. Post-partum BMI retention, but not prenatal BMI increases, predicted accelerated epigenetic aging. Conclusion: Women appear to become younger from pregnancy to the post-partum period based on specific epigenetic age indices. Further, BMI at 1 year after birth that reflects weight retention predicted greater epigenetic aging during this period.
AB - Problem: Epigenetic age indices are markers of biological aging determined from DNA methylation patterns. Accelerated epigenetic age predicts morbidity and mortality. Women tend to demonstrate slower blood epigenetic aging compared to men, possibly due to female-specific hormones and reproductive milestones. Pregnancy and the post-partum period are critical reproductive periods that have not been studied yet with respect to epigenetic aging. The purpose of this paper was to examine whether pregnancy itself and an important pregnancy-related variable, changes in body mass index (BMI) between pregnancy and the post-partum period, are associated with epigenetic aging. Method of Study: A pilot sample of 35 women was recruited as part of the Healthy Babies Before Birth (HB3) project. Whole blood samples were collected at mid-pregnancy and 1 year post-partum. DNA methylation at both time points was assayed using Infinium 450K and EPIC chips. Epigenetic age indices were calculated using an online calculator. Results: Paired-sample t-tests were used to test differences in epigenetic age indices from pregnancy to 1 year after birth. Over this critical time span, women became younger with respect to phenotypic epigenetic age, GrimAge, DNAm PAI-1, and epigenetic age indices linked to aging-related shifts in immune cell populations, known as extrinsic epigenetic age. Post-partum BMI retention, but not prenatal BMI increases, predicted accelerated epigenetic aging. Conclusion: Women appear to become younger from pregnancy to the post-partum period based on specific epigenetic age indices. Further, BMI at 1 year after birth that reflects weight retention predicted greater epigenetic aging during this period.
KW - body mass index
KW - epigenetic age
KW - post-partum period
KW - pregnancy
KW - whole blood
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85081718785&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/aji.13229
DO - 10.1111/aji.13229
M3 - Journal Article
C2 - 32061136
AN - SCOPUS:85081718785
SN - 1046-7408
VL - 83
JO - American Journal of Reproductive Immunology
JF - American Journal of Reproductive Immunology
IS - 5
M1 - e13229
ER -