Abstract
Telomere length (TL) influences the development of lifestyle-related diseases, and neonatal TL may influence their prevalence. Various factors have been reported to affect neonatal TL. Although the fetus is exposed to multiple conditions in utero, the main factors affecting the shortening of neonatal TL are still not known. In this study, we sought to identify factors that influence fetal TL. A total of 578 mother-newborn pairs were included for TL analysis. TL was measured in genomic DNA extracted from cord blood samples using quantitative PCR. The clinical factors examined at enrollment included the following intrauterine environmental factors: maternal age, assisted reproductive technology (ART) used, body mass index (BMI), gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), maternal stress, smoking, alcohol consumption, preterm delivery, small-for-gestational-age, neonatal sex, and placental weight. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were used to verify the relationship between neonatal TL and these clinical factors. The median neonatal TL to single-copy gene ratio was 1.0. Pregnancy with ART was among the 11 factors associated with shorter neonatal TL. From multiple regression analysis, we determined that neonatal TL was significantly shorter for pregnancies in the ART group than in the other groups. We conclude that pregnancy with ART is associated with shorter neonatal TL.
Highlights
The general idea of the “Developmental Origins of Health and Disease” hypothesis, in which various environmental factors influence postnatal development and the risk of disease onset during adulthood, is intriguing [1]
We confirmed the correlation between the to single-copy gene (T/S) ratio and telomere restriction fragment (TRF) in 12 randomly selected umbilical cord blood samples
We focused on singleton pregnancies delivered at Shimane University Hospital between May 2016 and May 2018, and written informed consent for the analysis of neonatal telomere length (TL) and maternal perinatal factors was obtained from all participants
Summary
The general idea of the “Developmental Origins of Health and Disease” hypothesis, in which various environmental factors influence postnatal development and the risk of disease onset during adulthood, is intriguing [1]. Preemptive medicine, which provides early intervention for disease risk based on individual genetic backgrounds, has attracted increasing attention. In this context, it is important to focus on fetal factors that can influence neonatal telomere length (TL), which may be relevant for the development of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and malignancies in adults [4,5,6]. In this study, we sought to define the major determinants of fetal TL
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