Maternal Obesity is Associated with a Sex-Specific Epigenetic Programming in Human Neonatal Monocytes

Abstract

Aim: To determine changes in global DNA methylation in monocytes from neonates of women with obesity, as markers of an immune programming resulting from maternal obesity. Materials&methods: Cord blood monocytes were obtained from neonates born to women with obesity and normal weight, genome-wide differentially methylated CpGs were determined using an Infinium MethylationEPIC-BeadChip (850K). Results: No clustering of samples according to maternal BMI was observed, but sex-specific analysis revealed 71,728 differentially methylated CpGs in female neonates from women with obesity (p < 0.01). DAVID analysis showed increased methylation levels within genes involved in the innate immune response and inflammation. Conclusion: Maternal obesity induces, in a sex-specific manner, an epigenetic programming of monocytes that could contribute to disease later in life.

Clinical trial registry: This study is registered in ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02903134.

Keywords::

• DNA methylation
• fetal programming
• maternal obesity
• monocytes

Supplementary data

To view the supplementary data that accompany this paper please visit the journal website at: www.tandfonline.com/doi/suppl/10.2217/epi-2020-0098

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the members of Dr. M Kobor’s lab, Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia, (Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics, 950 West 28th Avenue, A5-151 Bay 8, SC/HLGY Vancouver, BC, Canada V5Z 4H4), the facility in which the Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip data was acquired.

Financial&competing interest disclosure

This study was funded by FONDECYT # 1141195, FONDECYT # 1181341, FONDEQUIP EQM-120205. FVT holds the grant Beca de Doctorado Nacional CONICYT #21161644 for graduate studies. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. In addition, for investigations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.

Data sharing statement

The authors certify that this manuscript reports original clinical trial data. Individual, de-identified participant data that underlie the results reported in this article (text, tables, figures, and appendices) are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by FONDECYT # 1141195, FONDECYT # 1181341, FONDEQUIP EQM-120205. FVT holds the grant Beca de Doctorado Nacional CONICYT #21161644 for graduate studies. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.