Early- and late-onset preeclampsia and the tissue-specific epigenome of the placenta and newborn.

INTRODUCTION: Preeclampsia (PE) carries increased risks of cardiovascular- and metabolic diseases in mothers and offspring during the life course. While the severe early-onset PE (EOPE) phenotype originates from impaired placentation in early pregnancy, late-onset PE (LOPE) is in particular associated with pre-existing maternal cardiovascular- and metabolic risk factors. We hypothesize that PE is associated with altered epigenetic programming of placental and fetal tissues and that these epigenetic changes might elucidate the increased cardiovascular- and metabolic disease susceptibility in PE offspring. METHODS: A nested case-control study was conducted in The Rotterdam Periconceptional Cohort comprising 13 EOPE, 16 LOPE, and three control groups of 36 uncomplicated pregnancies, 27 normotensive fetal growth restricted and 20 normotensive preterm birth (PTB) complicated pregnancies. Placental tissue, newborn umbilical cord white blood cells (UC-WBC) and umbilical vein endothelial cells were collected and DNA methylation of cytosine-guanine dinucleotides was measured by the Illumina HumanMethylation450K BeadChip. An epigenome-wide analysis was performed by using multiple linear regression models. RESULTS: Epigenome-wide tissue-specific analysis between EOPE and PTB controls revealed 5001 mostly hypermethylated differentially methylated positions (DMPs) in UC-WBC and 869 mostly hypomethylated DMPs in placental tissue, situated in or close to genes associated with cardiovascular-metabolic developmental pathways. DISCUSSION: This study shows differential methylation in UC-WBC and placental tissue in EOPE as compared to PTB, identifying DMPs that are associated with cardiovascular system pathways. Future studies should examine these loci and pathways in more detail to elucidate the associations between prenatal PE exposure and the cardiovascular disease risk in offspring.

Periconceptional parental conditions and perimembranous ventricular septal defects in the offspring.

BACKGROUND: The perimembranous ventricular septal (pVSD) defect is the most common congenital heart disease phenotype. Several parental factors are associated with pVSD risk in the offspring. To contribute to the future prevention of pVSDs, we investigated associations with nongenetic parental conditions. METHODS: In a case-control study with standardized data collection at 17 months after birth, 115 parents of a child with pVSD and 484 parents of a healthy child completed questionnaires about periconceptional nongenetic conditions. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to estimate odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). RESULTS: Complete data were available for 588 families (98%). Maternal risk conditions associated with pVSD offspring were a positive family history of congenital heart disease (OR, 2.61; 95%CI, 0.98-6.91), medication use (OR, 1.80; 95%CI, 1.13-2.85) and advanced age (OR, 1.07; 95%CI, 1.02-1.12). Exposure to phthalates (OR, 1.93; 95%CI, 1.05-3.54) was the only paternal risk condition associated with pVSD offspring. CONCLUSION: Four periconceptional parental conditions contributed to pVSD risk in the offspring. Couples planning pregnancy should be counseled on these risk conditions which are partially modifiable to contribute to the future prevention of pVSDs.