DNA signature found in ice storm babies
Prenatal maternal stress exposure to natural disasters predicts epigenetic
profile of offspring
2014-09-29
The number of days an expectant mother was deprived of electricity during
Quebec’s Ice Storm (1998) predicts the epigenetic profile of her child, a new
study finds.
Scientists from the Douglas Mental Health University Institute and McGill
University have detected a distinctive ‘signature’ in the DNA of children born
in the aftermath of the massive Quebec ice storm. Five months after the event,
researchers recruited women who had been pregnant during the disaster and
assessed their degrees of hardship and distress in a study called Project Ice
Storm.
Thirteen years later, the researchers found that DNA within the T cells - a
type of immune system cell - of 36 children showed distinctive patterns in DNA
methylation.
The researchers concluded for the first time that maternal hardship, predicted
the degree of methylation of DNA in the T cells. The “epigenetic” signature
plays a role in the way the genes express themselves. This study is also the
first to show that it is the objective stress exposure (such as days without
electricity) and not the degree of emotional distress in pregnant women that
causes long lasting changes in the epigenome of their babies.
The health impacts on these children is less clear, but changes in the family
of genes related to immunity and sugar metabolism detected in these babies, now
teenagers, may put them at a greater risk to develop asthma, diabetes or
obesity.
Among the team of scientists who conducted this study are Lei Cao-Lei,
Psychological Research Division, Douglas Institute Research Center and
Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Moshe Szyf, Department of
Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Sackler Program for Epigenetics and
Developmental Psychobiology, McGill University, and Suzanne King, Psychological
Research Division, Douglas Institute Research Center and Department of
Psychiatry, McGill University.
Results of this study have been published in the international online
publication PLOS ONE on September 19th, 2014.
In June 2014, Project Ice Storm results reported in the journals BioMed
Research International and Psychiatry Research showed links between prenatal
maternal stress (PNMS) and the development of symptoms of asthma and autism,
respectively, in the children.
About Project Ice Storm
When the ice storms of January 1998 plunged more than 3 million Quebecers into
darkness for as long as 45 days, the team seized the opportunity to study the
effects of stress on pregnant women, their pregnancies, and their unborn
children. The team has been following a group of about 150 families, in which
the mother was pregnant during the ice storm or became pregnant shortly
thereafter, in order to observe the immediate effects of different levels and
types of stress on the unborn children. It continues to follow these children,
who are now teenagers.
Contacts:
Florence Meney
Media Relations
Communications and Public Affairs Directorate
Douglas Mental Health University Institute
Dobell Pav.- 6875 LaSalle Blvd., B-2122 - Montreal, QC H4H 1R3
T. 514-761-6131, ext. 2769
Florence.meney@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cynthia Lee
cynthia.lee@xxxxxxxxx
Relations avec les médias | Media Relations
Université McGill | McGill University
T. 514.398.6754
http://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/
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The Douglas Institute – www.douglas.qc.ca
McGill University: www.mcgill.ca
Last updated : September 29, 2014
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