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Author Notes:
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: alicia.smith@emory.edu Tel.: +1-404-712-9582; Fax: +1-404-727-3233.
All authors approved the submitted and accepted manuscript for publication. Sasha E. Parets and Alicia K. Smith drafted the manuscript. Carrie E. Bedient and Ramkumar Menon edited and provided specific content.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Subjects:
Research Funding:
This research was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (K01 MH085806 to Alicia K. Smith).
Keywords:
- DNA methylation,
- preterm birth
- pregnancy
- DOHaD
- epigenetic
- developmental programming
- gestational age
Preterm birth and its long-term effects: methylation to mechanisms.
Abstract:
The epigenetic patterns established during development may influence gene expression over a lifetime and increase susceptibility to chronic disease. Being born preterm (<37 weeks of gestation) is associated with increased risk mortality and morbidity from birth until adulthood. This brief review explores the potential role of DNA methylation in preterm birth (PTB) and its possible long-term consequences and provides an overview of the physiological processes central to PTB and recent DNA methylation studies of PTB.
Copyright information:
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits distribution of derivative works, distribution, public display, and publicly performance, making multiple copies, provided the original work is properly cited. This license requires credit be given to copyright holder and/or author, copyright and license notices be kept intact.
