Summary: A recent study demonstrates the importance of placenta in neurological development by demonstrating how DNA methylation affects medical problems ‘ gene expression. Placental DNA imprinting is a complex methylation that is linked to conditions like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and big depression, according to research.
These studies point to the possibility that there are genetic risk factors for psychiatric disorders before beginning. Understanding these initial genetic changes could enable the development of qualified treatment and preventative measures.
Important Information
- Maternal effect: DNA methyl in the womb affects genes associated with mental illnesses.
- Early intervention ability: Identifying dangers in the prenatal stages may lead to earlier detection.
- Origins of developmental disorders: Schizophrenia and other conditions may develop before beginning.
University of the Basque Country
The womb is a crucial component of neurological development, according to a review that involved 28 experts from 18 organizations across Europe and the United States.
The results of the study show that certain genetic changes in the placenta, particularly DNA methylation, may affect the expression of clinical disorders ‘ genes.
These findings point to the possibility that biological threat may already be present in the preterm period.
Epigenetic modifications are molecular modifications made to DNA and the proteins that are attached to it that control gene action without altering the sequence.
One of the most well-studied modifications is DNA imprinting, which adds small methyl groups, which are one-carbon and three-hydrogen atoms, to certain areas of the DNA.
This process, which is crucial for growth, climate adaptation, and disease tendency, is influenced by genetics and adapts to environmental factors like diet, stress, and exposure to pollutants.
The findings of the study show that the placenta’s DNA methylation is the most closely related neurological disorders to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and significant depression disorder.
Other conditions, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD ) or autism, exhibit some potential causal relationships, though to a lesser extent, whereas no tangible effects were found in other analyzed pathologies.
” These findings support the idea that dementia and other problems have a developmental source and that the uterus plays a fundamental role in this process,” says Dr. Fernandez-Jimenez.
Relevance for Personalized Medicine and Prevention
The revelation that maternal DNA methylation may be linked to genetic risk opens up new strategies for preventing and treating medical disorders.
Cilleros-Portet, who completed her PhD at UPV/EHU last summer and is now a postdoctoral scholar at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, adds,” If we could recognize risk factors at the prenatal level, we may act before symptoms appear, adjusting solutions or designing personal protective strategies.”
The study also emphasizes the value of identifying where and when each genetic factor acts in pathology since this might have an impact on how to make therapeutic decisions.
” Some genes may have acted in earlier developmental stages and may not be actionable in adulthood,” Fernandez-Jimenez says.” Not all genes associated with a disorder should be treated directly.
This study provides a significant step forward in the study of the biological causes of neuropsychiatric disorders, opening up new avenues of investigation for early detection as well as for the development of more effective treatments.
Additional details
This study was conducted at IRLab ( UPV/EHU/Biobizkaia ). Dr. José Ramón Bilbao, a full professor at UPV/EHU and a researcher at Biobizkaia, directs the multidisciplinary research group IRLab. Dr. Fernandez-Jimenez has spent years developing her own research areas in the areas of the placenta and celiac disease.
Under the supervision of Fernandez-Jimenez and Bilbao, Dr. Cilleros-Portet finished her doctoral thesis on placental DNA methylation and its effects on health this summer. She is presently a postdoctoral researcher at Mount Sinai’s prestigious Icahn School of Medicine.
About this research being done on schizophrenia and genetics
Author: Arantza Beitia
Source: University of the Basque Country
Contact: Arantza Beitia – University of the Basque Country
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Open access to original research
Fernandez-Jimenez and colleagues ‘” Placental DNA methylation has potential to be the cause of schizophrenia and other neuropsychiatric disorders..” Nature
Abstract
Placental DNA methylation has potential to be the cause of schizophrenia and other neuropsychiatric disorders.
The placenta plays a significant role in neurodevelopment and the onset of neuropsychiatric disorders, according to growing evidence.
In addition to understanding relationships between SNPs and GWASs that are not captured by eQTL, mQTL and iQTL maps have recently gained popularity. In this context, we make the suggestion that placental DNA methylation plays a role in the development of complex neuropsychiatric disorders.
We build a public placental , cis-mQTL database using 214, 830 CpG sites from the INMA project, as well as run cell type, gestational age, and sex-imQTL models.
We use summary-based Mendelian randomization and colocalization to combine these data with summary statistics of GWAS on ten neuropsychiatric disorders. In the RICHS cohort, we also examine how the DNA methylation sites that have been identified affect placental gene expression.
We discover that placental DNA methylation confers risk to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder, and that placental , cis-mQTLs are enriched in placenta-specific active chromatin regions.
Secondary association signals identified in conditional analyses, the presence of cell type-imQTLs, and the association of identified DNA methylation sites with the expression levels of relevant genes in the placenta support the potential causality of several of the observed associations.
