Puvvula Jagadeesh, Braun Joseph M, DeFranco Emily A, Ho Shuk-Mei, Leung Yuet-Kin, Huang Shouxiong, Zhang Xiang, Vuong Ann M, Kim Stephani S, Percy Zana, Chen Aimin
Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Department of Epidemiology, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
Epigenetics. 2025 Dec;20(1):2508067. doi: 10.1080/15592294.2025.2508067. Epub 2025 May 23.
The placenta is vital for fetal growth, and its methylation patterns reflect placental function, affecting the fetus and providing insights into disease origins. While cord blood methylation is convenient for assessing the fetal environment, methylation profiles vary by tissue due to variance in cell populations, function, and life stage. As tissue differences extensively contribute to the DNA methylation patterns, using surrogate samples such as cord blood may result in inconsistent findings. In this study, we aim to quantify the correlation of samples. Using the Infinium Human Methylation 450 K BeadChip, we compared methylation patterns in cord blood mononuclear cells (CBMC; = 54), the maternally-facing side of placental tissue (MP; = 68), and the fetal-facing side of placental tissue (FP; = 67). Methylation patterns from the FP (6,021 CpGs) were significantly correlated with CBMC compared to the MP (2,862 CpGs). These CpGs were related to the biological (mitotic cell) process and molecular function (ribonucleoprotein complex binding). Our findings quantified CpG site correlation between cord blood and placenta, providing a valuable reference for future studies on placental health that rely on cord blood methylation in the absence of placental biospecimens.
胎盘对胎儿生长至关重要，其甲基化模式反映胎盘功能，影响胎儿并为疾病起源提供见解。虽然脐带血甲基化便于评估胎儿环境，但由于细胞群体、功能和生命阶段的差异，甲基化谱因组织而异。由于组织差异在很大程度上影响DNA甲基化模式，使用脐带血等替代样本可能会导致结果不一致。在本研究中，我们旨在量化样本之间的相关性。使用Infinium Human Methylation 450 K BeadChip，我们比较了脐带血单个核细胞（CBMC；n = 54）、胎盘组织母体面（MP；n = 68）和胎盘组织胎儿面（FP；n = 67）的甲基化模式。与MP（2862个CpG）相比，FP（6021个CpG）的甲基化模式与CBMC显著相关。这些CpG与生物学（有丝分裂细胞）过程和分子功能（核糖核蛋白复合体结合）相关。我们的研究结果量化了脐带血与胎盘之间的CpG位点相关性，为未来在缺乏胎盘生物样本的情况下依赖脐带血甲基化进行胎盘健康研究提供了有价值的参考。
