Offspring DNA methylation of the aryl-hydrocarbon receptor repressor gene is associated with maternal BMI, gestational age, and birth weight.

ABSTRACT: Prenatal smoke exposure, maternal obesity, aberrant fetal growth, and preterm birth are all risk factors for offspring metabolic syndrome. Cord blood aryl-hydrocarbon receptor repressor (AHRR) DNA methylation is responsive to maternal smoking during pregnancy. AHRR serves not only to inhibit aryl-hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) transcription, which is involved in mediating xenobiotic metabolism, but it is also involved in cell growth and differentiation. Other than maternal smoking, other predictors of offspring AHRR DNA methylation status remain unknown; we sought to identify them among newborns. We enrolled pregnant women in the PROGRESS birth cohort in Mexico City. Using pyrosequencing, we analyzed DNA methylation of 3 CpG sites within the AHRR gene promoter from the umbilical cord blood of

SUBMITTER: Burris HH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4844209 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature