Project description:We report that the DNA methylation profile of a child’s neonatal whole blood can be significantly influenced by his or her mother’s neonatal blood lead levels (BLL). We recruited 35 mother-infant pairs in Detroit and measured the whole blood lead (Pb) levels and DNA methylation levels at over 450,000 loci from current blood and neonatal blood from both the mother and the child. We found that mothers with high neonatal BLL correlate with altered DNA methylation at 564 loci in their children’s neonatal blood. Our results suggest that Pb exposure during pregnancy affects the DNA methylation status of the fetal germ cells, which leads to altered DNA methylation in grandchildren’s neonatal dried blood spots. This is the first demonstration that an environmental exposure in pregnant mothers can have an epigenetic effect on the DNA methylation pattern in the grandchildren. For the study, we selected 35 dried blood spots (DBS) collected from mother-infant pairs from Health Fairs ran in three Detroit communities, because they have a high prevalence (8-11%) of high BLL in children. The sample set consisted of 25 male children and 18 female children. We also collected the neonatal DBS and mother neonatal DBS for these mother-infant pairs from the Michigan Neonatal Biobank. Then we measured a blood lead levels in dried blood spots using using atomic absorbtion spectrophotometry. Finally we measured the DNA methylation levels using human methylation 450K array from Illumina. Then we normalized the data for technical biases and tried to infer the the locus specific DNA methylation changes due to Pb exposure which was carried over from the grandmothers to the grandchildren by the Pb –exposed fetal germ cells of the mother using statistical model proposed by Sofer et al, 2012.
Project description:Influenza virus transmission between mothers and nursing-infants has not been investigated although mothers and infants often develop severe disease. Ferrets are considered the most appropriate model for influenza studies. We investigated influenza transmission in infant and nursing-mother ferrets. Influenza infected infants transmitted virus to mother mammary glands leading to live virus excretion in milk and influenza virus positive mammary gland epithelial cells. Global gene expression analysis showed down-regulation of milk production and induction of breast involution and oncogenesis pathways. Our results provide insight into influenza transmission between mothers and infants which may impact fields of infectious disease, maternal/infant health and neoplasm etiology. Total RNA was obtained from nursing mother ferret mammary glands at days 3/4 and 6/7 post-intranasal kit infection with 10^5 EID50 A/California/07/2009 (H1N1). Total RNA was also collected from uninfected control nursing mother mammary gland tissues (n = 3). Changes in gene expression relative to uninfected tissue controls were then investigated.
Project description:The aim of this study was to investigate how the human milk proteome relates to allergy of the mother and allergy development in the infant.
