Association of paternally derived trans-generational effects with offspring birth weight and epigenomic regions.

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K18686
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 56040:Obstetrics and gynecology-related
• Research Institution: National Center for Child Health and Development
• Principal Investigator: KANAZAWA Seiji 国立研究開発法人国立成育医療研究センター, 周産期・母性診療センター, フェロー (20799332)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 母子手帳 / 世代間伝達

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Pregnant women and their partners were recruited, and various data extracted from the maternal and child health handbooks of both, as well as maternal data during pregnancy and at and after delivery, and fetal and postnatal child data were collected together. The final number of consenting couples was 166. Currently, we are continuously collecting information on various events during pregnancy, delivery outcomes, and neonatal outcomes, and we plan to publish the results of our analysis as the outcome of this study. In addition, one of the results of this study has already been published as a coauthor of an original paper on birth weight and pregnancy outcomes among pregnant women themselves.

Free Research Field

胎児医学、小児成育学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

母親が自身の胎児期に受けた栄養不良や過多などの曝露が将来の妊娠・出産に影響を与え、次世代以降へその影響が繰り越されること（trans-generational effect）が示唆されている。同様に、父親の胎児期曝露が将来のパートナーの妊娠・出産を介して次世代以降へ影響する可能性がある。つまり、両親の健康状態が子供や孫以降へ引き継がれる可能性があり、健康寿命を考える上で非常に重要な概念であるにもかかわらず、まだ未知な部分が多い。本研究は母子手帳という世界的にも貴重なデータを元に父親の胎児期暴露にスポットを当て、世代を超えた予防医学を構築するための基礎データ収集として意義があると考えられる。