Placental Methylome Analysis from a Prospective Autism Study

Overview

Journal Mol Autism

Publisher Biomed Central

Date 2016 Dec 27

PMID 28018572

Citations 32

Authors

Diane I Schroeder

Rebecca J Schmidt

Florence K Crary-Dooley

Cheryl K Walker

Sally Ozonoff

Daniel J Tancredi

Irva Hertz-Picciotto

Janine M LaSalle

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are increasingly prevalent neurodevelopmental disorders that are behaviorally diagnosed in early childhood. Most ASD cases likely arise from a complex mixture of genetic and environmental factors, an interface where the epigenetic marks of DNA methylation may be useful as risk biomarkers. The placenta is a potentially useful surrogate tissue characterized by a methylation pattern of partially methylated domains (PMDs) and highly methylated domains (HMDs) reflective of methylation patterns observed in the early embryo.

Methods: In this study, we investigated human term placentas from the MARBLES (Markers of Autism Risk in Babies: Learning Early Signs) prospective study by whole genome bisulfite sequencing. We also examined the utility of PMD/HMDs in detecting methylation differences consistent with ASD diagnosis at age three.

Results: We found that while human placental methylomes have highly reproducible PMD and HMD locations, there is a greater variation between individuals in methylation levels over PMDs than HMDs due to both sampling and individual variability. In a comparison of methylation differences in placental samples from 24 ASD and 23 typically developing (TD) children, a HMD containing a putative fetal brain enhancer near was found to reach genome-wide significance and was validated for significantly higher methylation in ASD by pyrosequencing.

Conclusions: These results suggest that the placenta could be an informative surrogate tissue for predictive ASD biomarkers in high-risk families.

Citing Articles

Intercontinental insights into autism spectrum disorder: a synthesis of environmental influences and DNA methylation.

Kuodza G, Kawai R, LaSalle J Environ Epigenet. 2024; 10(1):dvae023.

PMID: 39703685 PMC: 11658417. DOI: 10.1093/eep/dvae023.

Epigenetic Biomarker: Improving Estimates of Fetal Exposure to Cigarette Smoke.

Schmidt S Environ Health Perspect. 2024; 132(9):94002.

PMID: 39315750 PMC: 11421290. DOI: 10.1289/EHP15627.

Evidence supporting the relationship between maternal asthma and risk for autism spectrum disorders.

Osman H, Ashwood P Neural Regen Res. 2024; 20(4):1101-1102.

PMID: 38989950 PMC: 11438343. DOI: 10.4103/NRR.NRR-D-24-00252.

Development and Validation of a Novel Placental DNA Methylation Biomarker of Maternal Smoking during Pregnancy in the ECHO Program.

Shorey-Kendrick L, Davis B, Gao L, Park B, Vu A, Morris C Environ Health Perspect. 2024; 132(6):67005.

PMID: 38885141 PMC: 11218700. DOI: 10.1289/EHP13838.

Prenatal dexamethasone exposure impairs rat blood-testis barrier function and sperm quality in adult offspring via GR/KDM1B/FSTL3/TGFβ signaling.

Liu Y, Chen S, Ai C, Yu P, Fang M, Wang H Acta Pharmacol Sin. 2024; 45(6):1237-1251.

PMID: 38472317 PMC: 11130295. DOI: 10.1038/s41401-024-01244-5.

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