Epigenetics links perinatal influences with later obesity. We identifed differentially methylated CpG (dmCpG) loci measured at 17 years associated with concurrent adiposity measures and examined whether these were associated with hsCRP, adipokines, and early life environmental factors. Genome-wide DNA methylation from 1192 Raine Study participants at 17 years, identified 29 dmCpGs (Bonferroni corrected p < 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: There is now increasing evidence that asthma and atopy originate in part in utero, with disease risk being associated with the altered epigenetic regulation of genes.
Objective And Methods: To determine the relationship between variations in DNA methylation at birth and the development of allergic disease, we examined the methylation status of CpG loci within the promoter regions of Th1/2 lineage commitment genes (GATA3, IL-4, IL-4R, STAT4 and TBET) in umbilical cord DNA at birth in a cohort of infants from the Southampton Women's Survey (n = 696) who were later assessed for asthma, atopic eczema and atopy.
Results: We found that higher methylation of GATA3 CpGs -2211/-2209 at birth was associated with a reduced risk of asthma at ages 3 (median ratio [median methylation in asthma group/median methylation in non-asthma group] = 0.
Background: Studies in animal models and in cultured cells have shown that fatty acids can induce alterations in the DNA methylation of specific genes. There have been no studies of the effects of fatty acid supplementation on the epigenetic regulation of genes in adult humans.
Methods And Results: We investigated the effect of supplementing renal patients with 4 g daily of either n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LCPUFA) or olive oil (OO) for 8 weeks on the methylation status of individual CpG loci in the 5' regulatory region of genes involved in PUFA biosynthesis in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from men and women (aged 53 to 63 years).
The early environment, acting via epigenetic processes, is associated with differential risk of cardiometabolic disease (CMD), which can be predicted by epigenetic marks in proxy tissues. However, such measurements at time points disparate from the health outcome or the environmental exposure may be confounded by intervening stochastic and environmental variation. To address this, we analyzed DNA methylation in the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator 1α promoter in blood from 40 children (20 boys) collected annually between 5 and 14 years of age by pyrosequencing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProstaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids
October 2014
Female humans and rodents have been shown to have higher 22:6n-3 status and synthesis than males. It is unclear which sex hormone is involved. We investigated the specificity of the effects of physiological concentrations of sex hormones in vitro on the mRNA expression of genes involved in polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) biosynthesis and on the conversion of [d5]-18:3n-3 to longer chain fatty acids.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF