Barcelona Veronica, Abuaish Sameera, Lee Seonjoo, Harkins Sarah, Butler Ashlie, Tycko Benjamin, Baccarelli Andrea A, Walsh Kate, Monk Catherine E
Columbia University School of Nursing, New York, NY 10032, USA.
Department of Basic Sciences, College of Medicine, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia.
Epigenomes. 2023 Nov 1;7(4):27. doi: 10.3390/epigenomes7040027.
Latinas experience physical and psychological stressors in pregnancy leading to increased morbidity and higher risk for adverse birth outcomes. Epigenetic changes, including DNA methylation (DNAm), have been proposed as markers to create more refined risk stratification, yet few of these studies have examined these changes in Latinas. We conducted a secondary analysis of stored blood leukocytes of Latina women (n = 58) enrolled in a larger National Institutes of Health funded R01 project (2011-2016). We examined DNAm on eight candidate stress genes to compare physically and psychologically stressed participants to healthy (low stress) participants. We found unique CpGs that were differentially methylated in stressed women early- and mid-pregnancy compared to the healthy group, though none remained significant after FDR correction. Both physical and psychological stress were associated with hypomethylation at two consecutive CpG sites on NR3C1 in early pregnancy and one CpG site on NR3C1 in mid-pregnancy before adjustment. Stress was also associated with hypomethylation at two CpG sites on FKBP5 in early and mid-pregnancy but were no longer significant after FDR adjustment. Though we did not find statistically significant differences in DNAm during pregnancy between stressed and healthy women in this sample, signals were consistent with previous findings. Future work in larger samples should further examine the associations between stress and DNAm in pregnancy as this mechanism may explain underlying perinatal health inequities.
拉丁裔女性在孕期会经历身体和心理上的压力源，这会导致发病率上升以及不良分娩结局的风险增加。表观遗传变化，包括DNA甲基化（DNAm），已被提议作为创建更精细风险分层的标志物，但很少有研究在拉丁裔女性中检测这些变化。我们对参与一项更大的由美国国立卫生研究院资助的R01项目（2011 - 2016年）的拉丁裔女性（n = 58）储存的血液白细胞进行了二次分析。我们检测了八个候选应激基因上的DNAm，以比较身体和心理有压力的参与者与健康（低压力）参与者。我们发现，与健康组相比，在妊娠早期和中期，有压力的女性中存在独特的甲基化差异的CpG位点，尽管在错误发现率（FDR）校正后没有一个位点仍然显著。在调整前，身体和心理压力在妊娠早期均与NR3C1上两个连续的CpG位点的低甲基化相关，在妊娠中期与NR3C1上一个CpG位点的低甲基化相关。压力在妊娠早期和中期还与FKBP5上两个CpG位点的低甲基化相关，但在FDR调整后不再显著。尽管在这个样本中，我们没有发现有压力和健康的女性在孕期DNAm上有统计学显著差异，但信号与先前的发现一致。未来在更大样本中的研究应进一步检查孕期压力与DNAm之间的关联，因为这种机制可能解释潜在的围产期健康不平等问题。
