TY - JOUR
T1 - Prenatal maternal distress and immune cell epigenetic profiles at 3-months of age
AU - Letourneau, Nicole
AU - Ntanda, Henry
AU - Jong, Victor L.
AU - Mahinpey, Newsha
AU - Giesbrecht, Gerald
AU - Ross, Kharah M.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding for this study was provided by Alberta Innovates Health Solutions in establishing the original APrON cohort with additional funding for this work provided by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, National Centre of Excellence AllerGen and Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation. K. Ross was funded by the Owerko Centre at the Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute. The authors gratefully acknowledge support provided by Meaghan Jones, Sarah Merrill, Michael Kobor. We are extremely grateful to all the families who took part in this study and the whole APrON team (see APrONstudy.ca), investigators, research assistants, graduate and undergraduate students, volunteers, clerical staff and mangers.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC
PY - 2021/7
Y1 - 2021/7
N2 - Background: Prenatal maternal distress predicts altered offspring immune outcomes, potentially via altered epigenetics. The role of different kinds of prenatal maternal distress on DNA methylation profiles is not understood. Methods: A sample of 117 women (APrON cohort) were followed from pregnancy to the postpartum period. Maternal distress (depressive symptoms, pregnancy-specific anxiety, stressful life events) were assessed mid-pregnancy, late-pregnancy, and 3-months postpartum. DNA methylation profiles were obtained from 3-month-old blood samples. Principal component analysis identified two epigenetic components, characterized as Immune Signaling and DNA Transcription through gene network analysis. Covariates were maternal demographics, pre-pregnancy body mass index, child sex, birth gestational age, and postpartum maternal distress. Penalized regression (LASSO) models were used. Results: Late-pregnancy stressful life events, b = 0.006, early-pregnancy depressive symptoms, b = 0.027, late-pregnancy depressive symptoms, b = 0.014, and pregnancy-specific anxiety during late pregnancy, b = −0.631, were predictive of the Immune Signaling component, suggesting that these aspects of maternal distress could affect methylation in offspring immune signaling pathways. Only early-pregnancy depressive symptoms was predictive of the DNA Transcription component, b = −0.0004, suggesting that this aspect of maternal distress is implicated in methylation of offspring DNA transcription pathways. Conclusions: Exposure timing and kind of prenatal maternal distress could matter in the prediction of infant immune epigenetic profiles.
AB - Background: Prenatal maternal distress predicts altered offspring immune outcomes, potentially via altered epigenetics. The role of different kinds of prenatal maternal distress on DNA methylation profiles is not understood. Methods: A sample of 117 women (APrON cohort) were followed from pregnancy to the postpartum period. Maternal distress (depressive symptoms, pregnancy-specific anxiety, stressful life events) were assessed mid-pregnancy, late-pregnancy, and 3-months postpartum. DNA methylation profiles were obtained from 3-month-old blood samples. Principal component analysis identified two epigenetic components, characterized as Immune Signaling and DNA Transcription through gene network analysis. Covariates were maternal demographics, pre-pregnancy body mass index, child sex, birth gestational age, and postpartum maternal distress. Penalized regression (LASSO) models were used. Results: Late-pregnancy stressful life events, b = 0.006, early-pregnancy depressive symptoms, b = 0.027, late-pregnancy depressive symptoms, b = 0.014, and pregnancy-specific anxiety during late pregnancy, b = −0.631, were predictive of the Immune Signaling component, suggesting that these aspects of maternal distress could affect methylation in offspring immune signaling pathways. Only early-pregnancy depressive symptoms was predictive of the DNA Transcription component, b = −0.0004, suggesting that this aspect of maternal distress is implicated in methylation of offspring DNA transcription pathways. Conclusions: Exposure timing and kind of prenatal maternal distress could matter in the prediction of infant immune epigenetic profiles.
KW - APrON Study
KW - depressive symptoms
KW - epigenetics
KW - fetal programming hypothesis
KW - gene network analysis
KW - pregnancy-specific anxiety
KW - principal component analysis
KW - stress
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100959015&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/dev.22103
DO - 10.1002/dev.22103
M3 - Journal Article
C2 - 33569773
AN - SCOPUS:85100959015
SN - 0012-1630
VL - 63
SP - 973
EP - 984
JO - Developmental Psychobiology
JF - Developmental Psychobiology
IS - 5
ER -