The Maternal Nutrition and Offspring's Epigenome (MANOE) study: a prospective, monocentric, observational study.

Pauwels et al. Archives of Public Health 2015, 73(Suppl 1):P41 http://www.archpublichealth.com/content/73/S1/P41 ARCHIVES OF PUBLIC HEALTH POSTER PRESENTATION Open Access The Maternal Nutrition and Offspring’s Epigenome (MANOE) study: a prospective, monocentric, observational study. Sara Pauwels1*, Inge Huybrechts2, Roland Devlieger3, Gudrun Koppen4, Lode Godderis5 From Methods in Epidemiology Symposium Leuven, Belgium. 17 September 2015 Introduction Epigenetic modifications have the ability to change the susceptibility to metabolic diseases like obesity. DNA methylation can change during a life course due to environmental exposures like diet. Aim To determine the effects of dietary methyl-group intake during pregnancy on the DNA methylation pattern of mother and child. In addition, the association between the DNA methylation pattern of the mother and child on body composition/weight gain of the infant during the first year will be studied. Methods We have recruited 166 and 95 expectant mothers and fathers respectively, who are followed up in UZ Leuven. Validated questionnaires are used to obtain information about lifestyle and environmental factors that can influence DNA methylation. A food-frequency questionnaire was developed and validated to categorize women in groups according to their methyl-group intake. Women fill out a 7-day dietary record to have information about macro- and micronutrient intake. Body composition is followed up by means of the bio-electrical impedance method. Blood samples are collected during pregnancy and until 1 year postpartum. Cord blood is taken and mouth epithelial cells are obtained from the infants at 6 and 12 months. Samples will be analyzed for global DNA (de)methylation by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and specific target genes involved in DNA (de)methylation and genes linked with obesity/adiposity by pyrosequencing. Results Our first results give an indication that the intake of methyl-groups during pregnancy is stable, except for a decrease in total folate intake in the second and third trimester. Also, global DNA methylation analysis shows that maternal methylation is rather stable over pregnancy, with a small decrease (-0.17%,p=0.03) in methylation by the end of pregnancy. Discussion With this study we will gain insight on the effect of maternal nutrition on offspring DNA methylation and potentially identify DNA methylation biomarkers at birth that can mediate problems with metabolism/obesity. Authors’ details 1 KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. 2International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France. 3KU Leuven/ UZ Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. 4Flemish Institute of Technological Research (VITO), Mol, Belgium. 5KU Leuven/IDEWE, Leuven, Belgium. Published: 17 September 2015 doi:10.1186/2049-3258-73-S1-P41 Cite this article as: Pauwels et al.: The Maternal Nutrition and Offspring’s Epigenome (MANOE) study: a prospective, monocentric, observational study.. Archives of Public Health 2015 73(Suppl 1):P41. 1 KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © 2015 Pauwels et al. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/ zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.  (...truncated)