Adnkronos Milan, April 26 (Adnkronos Salute) – Could the umbilical cord become a sort of 'crystal ball' in which to read the future of babies? According to a study, cord blood appears to have the potential to provide early clues about which newborns are at greater risk of long-term pathologies including diabetes, stroke and liver disease.
It could help doctors predict problems later in life. These clues are DNA changes found in cord blood, which could pave the way for early and potentially life-saving interventions.
The study will be presented during Digestive Disease Week, May 3-6 in San Diego, California. "We're seeing that children are developing metabolic problems earlier and earlier, which puts them at greater risk for serious complications as adults," said lead author Ashley Jowell, a postdoctoral fellow at Duke University Health System. "If we can identify this risk at birth, we may be able to prevent it." The researchers used a new genetic tool to analyze cord blood from 38 babies enrolled in the Newborn Epigenetics Study, a long-term cohort study in North Carolina. They looked for changes in chemical tags, called methyl groups, on the newborns' DNA that turn genes on or off. When these changes occur in critical parts of DNA, called imprinting control regions, their effects can persist through fetal development and into adult life.
The team compared the DNA changes to health data collected from the children between the ages of 7 and 12, including body mass index, liver fat, a marker of liver inflammation or damage (ALT), triglyceride levels, blood pressure, and waist-to-hip ratio. They identified several regions of altered DNA associated with metabolic dysfunction later in childhood.
Alterations in a gene called Tns3 were linked to liver fat, ALT, and waist-to-hip ratio, while alterations in other genes, including Gnas and Csmd1, were linked to blood pressure, waist-to-hip ratio, and ALT. “These epigenetic marks are established during embryonic development, potentially influenced by environmental factors such as nutrition or maternal health during pregnancy,” says coauthor Cynthia Moylan, MD, associate professor of medicine in the division of gastroenterology at Duke University Health System. “If validated in larger studies, these findings could pave the way for new screening tools and early interventions for at-risk children.”
Although the sample was small, researchers say the findings are promising and warrant further study. A larger follow-up study funded by the National Health Institute is underway. The current findings do not suggest a direct cause-and-effect relationship between the genetic changes and the disease, but they do highlight a potential biological pathway for further research. "Just because you're born with these markers doesn't mean you're going to have the disease," Jowell said. "But knowing your risk early in life could help families and doctors take proactive steps to protect their child's long-term health."