Genome-wide DNA methylation variation in maternal and cord blood of gestational diabetes population

Aims Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) has always been a concerning issue for pregnant women. In recent studies, GDM was found to be related to epigenetic modifications, which would alter gene expressions, thus affecting the patients’ and their offspring’s health, leading to a higher probability of developing metabolic syndromes and diabetes later in life. Methods In this study, we collected both maternal and cord blood samples from 16 pregnant women and their newborns, including eight exposed to GDM. GDM was diagnosed via a 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) at 24–28 weeks of pregnancy. DNA methylation was measured at 841,573 CpG sites via the Infinium HumanMethylationEPIC BeadChip. An Ingenuity Pathway Analysis was conducted afterwards to identify genes and pathways epigenetically affected by GDM. Results We identified the top 200 loci and their corresponding genes in the maternal blood group (n = 151) and cord blood group (n = 167), both of which were methylated differently in the GDM and unexposed group. Metabolic disease-related pathways and molecules, such as interleukin-6 and interleukin-10 were identified in both groups. These results suggested that GDM has epigenetic effects on both mother and their offspring, which might result in future metabolic syndromes or diabetes. Conclusions The high-throughput platform enabled us to analyze methylation sites throughout the genome and identify the most promising genes and pathways associated with GDM.