Evaluating the association between placenta DNA methylation and cognitive functions in the offspring

Abstract

Abstract Placenta plays a crucial role protecting the foetus from environmental harm and supports the development of its brain. In fact, compromised placental function could predispose an individual to neurodevelopmental disorders. Placental epigenetic modifications, including DNA methylation, could be considered a proxy of placental function and thus plausible mediators of the association between intrauterine environmental exposures and genetics, and childhood and adult mental health. Although neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder have been investigated in relation to placenta DNA methylation, no studies have addressed the association between placenta DNA methylation and child’s cognitive functions. Thus, our goal here was to investigate whether placental DNA methylation profile measured using the Illumina EPIC array is associated with three different cognitive domains (namely verbal score, perceptive performance score, and general cognitive score) assessed by the McCarthy Scales of Children’s functions in childhood at age 4. To this end, we conducted epigenome-wide association analyses including data from 255 mother-child pairs within the INMA project and performed a follow-up functional analysis to help the interpretation of the findings. After multiple-testing correction, we found that methylation at 4 CpGs (cg1548200, cg02986379, cg00866476 and cg14113931) was significantly associated with the general cognitive score, and 2 distinct differentially methylated regions (DMRs) (including 27 CpGs) were significantly associated with each cognitive dimension. Interestingly, the genes annotated to these CpGs were involved in placenta, foetal, and brain development. Moreover, functional enrichment analyses of suggestive CpGs (p < 1x10− 4) revealed gene-sets involved in placenta development, foetus formation and brain growth. These findings suggest that placental DNAm could be a mechanism contributing to the alteration of important pathways in the placenta that have a consequence on the offspring’s brain development and cognitive function. .