The Andalusian School of Public Health coordinates one of the 7 epidemiological projects included in the study published by the prestigious journal Nature Communications in which 5 countries participate.
The results of the research in which the Andalusian School of Public Health (EASP), an entity of the Regional Ministry of Health and Families, is participating, show an association between tobacco consumption during pregnancy, epigenetic changes in placental DNA and the negative impact on foetal growth. The study has also advanced scientific knowledge on the mechanisms through which this exposure to tobacco impairs placental function and, therefore, foetal growth.
The epigenetic mechanism analysed corresponds to small chemical modifications that are added to or eliminated from DNA, without modifying its basic sequence, in response to environmental exposures, such as tobacco. These variations can alter the regulation of gene expression, in this case of those involved in the correct functioning of the placenta, whose possible alteration due to smoking can cause adverse effects on foetal growth.
The study involved 1,700 mother/child pairs from seven population groups from Europe, North America and Australia, within the framework of the international consortium on Pregnancy And Childhood Epigenetics (PACE) This study has integrated data from the Andalusian research project GENEIDA, whose main objective is to study the effects of early environmental exposures on the origin of human diseases throughout life, evaluating potential genetic and epigenetic mechanisms.
GENEIDA (Genetics, ENvironmental Exposures and Infant Development in Andalusia)
Among the population groups selected for this study are the mother/child pairs participating in the GENEIDA (Genetics, ENvironmental Exposures and Infant Development in Andalusia) project – https://www.easp.es/web/geneida -, of which 5 researchers are co-authors of the above-mentioned study.
The main objective of GENEIDA is to contribute to improve scientific knowledge on the effect of adverse exposures: environmental toxic compounds, nutrition, psychological and social stress, maternal diseases, as well as genetic and epigenetic factors; during pregnancy, childhood and adolescence in the development of diseases throughout life.
The knowledge generated by this research is intended to help protect the health of pregnant women and their offspring during childhood and adolescence, and to prevent diseases that may develop during adulthood.
The GENEIDA project is led by EASP professor Marina Lacasaña, and researchers from the EASP, the Centre for Genomics and Oncology Research (GENYO) in Granada, the Institute for Biosanitary Research of Granada (ibs.GRANADA), the University of Granada, CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), and health professionals from the Hospital de Poniente (Almeria) are working on it.
Epigenetic studies
Epigenetic studies are providing scientific knowledge about the regulation of gene expression, identifying genetic and environmental interactions in the determination of the phenotype.
The identification of mechanisms that regulate gene expression without a change in DNA sequence may provide scientific insight into the effect of environmental exposures on phenotype determination.
Nature Communications
Nature Communications is a peer-reviewed, open access scientific journal. The journal disseminates research of high scientific quality that represents an important advance in scientific knowledge in the different fields of Natural Sciences.
The journal is available in health research reference indexes, such as DOAJ, MEDLINE, Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar.
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Bibliographic reference
Everson T, Vives-Usano M, Seyve E, et al. Placental DNA methylation signatures of maternal smoking during pregnancy and potential impacts on fetal growth. Nature Comms. 2021. 12:5095. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24558-y