The role of epigenetic regulations in early childhood diseases

Abstract

With the acceptance of "The developmental origins of health and disease" concept in the 1990s, it became clear that epigenetic inheritance, which do not involve changes in the DNA sequence has important role in the pathogenesis of diseases. Epigenetic regulation serves the adaptation to the changing environment and maintains the reproductive fitness even on the drawback of increased risk of diseases in later life. The role of epigenetic mechanisms in chronic non-communicable diseases has been well established. Recent studies have revealed that epigenetic changes have also causal role in certain pediatric diseases. The review evaluates the recent epigenetic findings in the pathomechanism of common pediatric diseases. The wide range and long-lasting duration of epigenetic regulations give importance to the subject. Methods are already available to evaluate a part of the epigenetic changes in the clinical practice, presently aiming primarily the estimation of the disease risk or definition of diagnosis. Furthermore, there are already available limited means to influence the epigenetic regulation.