Smoking-associated AHRR demethylation in cord blood DNA: impact of CD235a+ nucleated red blood cells.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Numerous studies have demonstrated that DNA methylation levels in the aryl hydrocarbon receptor repressor (AHRR) gene measured in cord blood are significantly associated with prenatal tobacco smoke exposure and can be used as a fetal exposure biomarker. The mechanism driving this demethylation has not been determined and it is unclear if all cord blood cell types are impacted. Nucleated red blood cells (nRBCs/CD235a+ cells) are developmentally immature RBCs that display genome-wide hypomethylation and are observed at increased frequency in the cord blood of smoking mothers. We tested if AHRR methylation levels in CD235a+ nRBCs or nRBC counts influenced AHRR methylation in whole cord blood.

Methods

Cord blood was collected from smoking (n = 34) and nonsmoking (n = 

SUBMITTER: Bergens MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6558773 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature