AUTHOR=Argentato Perla Pizzi , Marchesi Jorge Augusto Petroli , Dejani Naiara Naiana , Nakandakare Patrícia Yury , Teles Laísla de França da Silva , Batista Lívia Patrícia Rodrigues , Leitão Maria Paula Carvalho , Luzia Liania Alves , Ramos Ester Silveira , Rondó Patricia Helen 

TITLE=The relationship between obesity-related H19DMR methylation and H19 and IGF2 gene expression on offspring growth and body composition

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nutrition

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2023.1170411

DOI=10.3389/fnut.2023.1170411

ISSN=2296-861X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background and objective</title><p>Imprinted genes are important for the offspring development. To assess the relationship between obesity-related <italic>H19DMR</italic> methylation and <italic>H19</italic> and <italic>IGF2</italic> gene expression and offspring growth and body composition.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Thirty-nine overweight/obese and 25 normal weight pregnant women were selected from the “Araraquara Cohort Study” according to their pre-pregnancy BMI. Fetal growth and body composition and newborn growth were assessed, respectively, by ultrasound and anthropometry. The methylation of <italic>H19DMR</italic> in maternal blood, cord blood, maternal decidua and placental villi tissues was evaluated by methylation-sensitive restriction endonuclease qPCR, and <italic>H19</italic> and <italic>IGF2</italic> expression by relative real-time PCR quantification. Multiple linear regression models explored the associations of DNA methylation and gene expression with maternal, fetal, and newborn parameters.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p><italic>H19DMR</italic> was less methylated in maternal blood of the overweight/obese group. There were associations of <italic>H19DMR</italic> methylation in cord blood with centiles of fetal biparietal diameter (BPD) and abdominal subcutaneous fat thickness and newborn head circumference (HC); <italic>H19DMR</italic> methylation in maternal decidua with fetal occipitofrontal diameter (OFD), HC, and length; <italic>H19DMR</italic> methylation in placental villi with fetal OFD, HC and abdominal subcutaneous fat thickness and with newborn HC. <italic>H19</italic> expression in maternal decidua was associated with fetal BPD and femur length centiles and in placental villi with fetal OFD and subcutaneous arm fat. <italic>IGF2</italic> expression in maternal decidua was associated with fetal BPD and in placental villi with fetal OFD.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate associations of imprinted genes variations at the maternal-fetal interface of the placenta and in cord blood with fetal body composition, supporting the involvement of epigenetic mechanisms in offspring growth and body composition.</p></sec>