Abnormal DNA methylation within genes of the steroidogenesis pathway two years after paediatric critical illness and association with stunted growth in height further in time.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Former critically ill children show an epigenetic age deceleration 2 years after paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission as compared with normally developing healthy children, with stunted growth in height 2 years further in time as physical correlate. This was particularly pronounced in children who were 6 years or older at the time of critical illness. As this age roughly corresponds to the onset of adrenarche and further pubertal development, a relation with altered activation of endocrine pathways is plausible. We hypothesised that children who have been admitted to the PICU, sex- and age-dependently show long-term abnormal DNA methylation within genes involved in steroid hormone synthesis or steroid sulphation/desulphation, possibly aggravated by in-PICU glu

SUBMITTER: Vanhorebeek I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10354984 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature