Children's Environmental Health Laboratory, Global Berkeley Campus, University of California, Berkeley, 1301 S. 46th Street, Bldg 112, Richmond, CA 94804, USA.
Center for Children's Environmental Health, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, 1995 University Avenue Suite 265, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Feb 13;16(4):524. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16040524.
Epigenetic mechanisms have emerged as an important pathway through which environmental exposures can affect health through the regulation of gene expression without changes in DNA sequence: microRNAs (miRNAs) are short non-coding RNAs that target protein-coding mRNAs, leading to post-transcriptional repression. They are involved in important physiologic processes, but little is known about how miRNA expression may change with age in children. We used an nCounter miRNA assay to assess the expression of 43 miRNAs in buffy coat samples collected from newborns ( = 121) and 7-year-old ( = 142) children. We identified 36 miRNAs that were differentially expressed between newborns and 7-year-olds after controlling for blood cell composition. Using pathway analysis, we found that differentially expressed miRNAs targeted genes enriched for processes related to post-translational modifications, metabolism, and immune response. Our study found that unlike adults, where miRNA expression levels in peripheral blood may decrease with age, expression levels of most miRNAs increased from birth to mid-childhood. This may be reflective of the role miRNAs may play in the highly coordinated mechanisms regulating genes involved in children's development. Furthermore, it will be important to adjust for both age and blood cell composition in future pediatric studies of miRNA expression in blood.
表观遗传机制已成为一个重要途径，环境暴露可以通过调节基因表达而不改变 DNA 序列来影响健康：microRNAs（miRNAs）是短的非编码 RNA，靶向蛋白质编码的 mRNA，导致转录后抑制。它们参与重要的生理过程，但对于 miRNA 表达如何随儿童年龄变化知之甚少。我们使用 nCounter miRNA 测定法评估了从新生儿（= 121）和 7 岁儿童（= 142）采集的血涂片样本中的 43 种 miRNA 的表达。我们确定了 36 种 miRNA 在控制血细胞组成后，在新生儿和 7 岁儿童之间差异表达。通过途径分析，我们发现差异表达的 miRNA 靶向与翻译后修饰、代谢和免疫反应相关过程的基因富集。我们的研究发现，与成年人不同，外周血中的 miRNA 表达水平可能随年龄增长而降低，大多数 miRNA 的表达水平从出生到儿童中期增加。这可能反映了 miRNA 在调节儿童发育过程中涉及的基因的高度协调机制中可能发挥的作用。此外，在未来的儿科 miRNA 表达血液研究中，调整年龄和血细胞组成将非常重要。
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