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Associations between maternal prenatal stress, methylation changes in IGF1 and IGF2, and birth weight

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2017

D. Montoya-Williams Open the ORCID record for D. Montoya-Williams [Opens in a new window] ,
J. Quinlan ,
C. Clukay ,
N. C. Rodney ,
D. A. Kertes  and
C. J. Mulligan
D. Montoya-Williams*
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
J. Quinlan
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA Genetics Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
C. Clukay
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA Genetics Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
N. C. Rodney
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
D. A. Kertes
Affiliation:
Genetics Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
C. J. Mulligan
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA Genetics Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
*
*Address for correspondence: D. Montoya-Williams, Division of Neonatology, UF Health Shands Hospital, PO Box 100296, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA. (Email dmontoyafontalvo@ufl.edu)
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Abstract

Maternal stress has been linked to low birth weight in newborns. One potential pathway involves epigenetic changes at candidate genes that may mediate the effects of prenatal maternal stress on birth weight. This relationship has been documented in stress-related genes, such as NR3C1. There is less literature exploring the effect of stress on growth-related genes. IGF1 and IGF2 have been implicated in fetal growth and development, though via different mechanisms as IGF2 is under imprinting control. In this study, we tested for associations between prenatal stress, methylation of IGF1 and IGF2, and birth weight. A total of 24 mother–newborn dyads in the Democratic Republic of Congo were enrolled. Ethnographic interviews were conducted with mothers at delivery to gather culturally relevant war-related and chronic stressors. DNA methylation data were generated from maternal venous, cord blood and placental tissue samples. Multivariate regressions were used to test for associations between stress measures, DNA methylation and birth weight in each of the three tissue types. We found an association between IGF2 methylation in maternal blood and birth weight. Previous literature on the relationship between IGF2 methylation and birth weight has focused on methylation at known differentially methylated regions in cord blood or placental samples. Our findings indicate there may be links between the maternal epigenome and low birth weight that rely on mechanisms outside known imprinting pathways. It thus may be important to consider the effect of maternal exposures and epigenetic profiles on birth weight even in the setting of maternally imprinted genes such as IGF2.

Keywords

birth weightIGF2methylationprenatal stress
Type
Original Article
Information
Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , April 2018 , pp. 215 - 222
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Copyright
© Cambridge University Press and the International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease 2017 

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