Longitudinal changes of oxidative stress and PON1 lactonase activity and status in older pregnant women undergoing assisted reproductive technology: a prospective nested case-control study

Environmental and genetic risk factors for preterm birth: interplays with stressful events during pregnancy

BACKGROUND

Preterm birth (PTB) etiology remains poorly understood. Our aim was to investigate the relation of environmental factors and specific gene polymorphisms involved in PTB in the context of stressful life events during pregnancy.

METHODS

Parental sociodemographic and obstetric data as well as genetic variants of 1263 preterm newborns were analyzed. Logistic regressions were used to identify shared environmental and genetic risk factors for PTB and stressful life events. A Lasso Ridge logistic regression with cross-validation was used to select the best predictors of maternal stress. Associations were evidenced through Bayesian networks.

RESULTS

Starting from a great number of variables, our model was processed and reduced until it allowed to visualize only two environmental factors (alcohol intake and chronic hypertension) along with three SNPs rs66911171 (CR1), rs854552 (PON1), rs4966038 (IGF1R) and two interactions rs854552 x rs4966038 (PON1xIGFR1) and rs5742612 x rs1942386 (IGF1xPGR) related to PTB and maternal stress.

CONCLUSION

Machine learning techniques allow us to identify two environmental factors, three genetic markers, and two interactions related to PTB in the context of stressful life events. Findings of this exploratory study contribute to the understanding of the complex pathways relating maternal stress and PTB.

IMPACT

An analysis of environmental factors and preterm birth specific gene polymorphisms in the context of stressful life events during pregnancy is presented. Alcohol intake and chronic hypertension along with SNPs of CR1, PON1, IGF1R and two interactions PON1xIGFR1 and IGF1xPGR are shown as related to preterm birth in the context of stressful life events. This research could help in developing targeted interventions and preventive strategies for at-risk populations. The study emphasizes the potential of machine learning to interpret biological and social interactions affecting health outcomes.

Reduced low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels are associated with increased risk of gestational diabetes mellitus in Chinese women

Lipid levels in women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) have been extensively studied, whether low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is a risk factor for GDM development remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the correlation between serum LDL-C levels and the risk of GDM. A case-control study was conducted. Glycolipid metabolic and oxidative stress indicators were measured in 696 women with GDM and 1048 healthy pregnant women. Serum LDL-C levels were significantly lower in the GDM group than in the control group (P < 0.001). Subgroup analysis indicated that reduced LDL-C levels were associated with an increased risk of GDM after adjusting for differences in maternal age, pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), gestational age at sampling, fasting glucose and insulin levels, and homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (odds ratio [OR] 1.372, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.050-1.794, P = 0.021 for medium-LDL-C subgroup; OR 1.672, 95% CI 1.219-2.294, P = 0.001 for low-LDL-C subgroup). The risk of GDM decreased by 17.6% per 1 mmol/L increase in LDL-C level (OR 0.824, 95% CI 0.733-0.926, P = 0.001). Furthermore, apolipoprotein (apo) A1 and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels were lower, whereas pre-pregnancy and delivery BMI, triglyceride (TG)/HDL-C ratios, and second-trimester fasting glucose levels were higher in the low-LDL-C GDM subgroup than those in the high- and/or medium-LDL-C GDM subgroups (P < 0.05). ApoA1 and HDL-C levels were lower but TG/HDL-C ratios were higher in the medium-LDL-C GDM subgroup than those in the high-LDL-C GDM subgroup (P < 0.05). We concluded that reduced LDL-C levels were associated with an elevated risk of GDM in the study population. Low LDL-C levels correlated with increased BMI and unfavorable TG, HDL, and glucose metabolism.

Proteomics profiling reveals lipid metabolism abnormalities during oogenesis in unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss

Background

Unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss (URPL) is a clinical dilemma in reproductive fields. Its diagnosis is mainly exclusionary after extensive clinical examination, and some of the patients may still face the risk of miscarriage.

Methods

We analyzed follicular fluid (FF) from in vitro fertilization (IVF) in eight patients with URPL without endocrine abnormalities or verifiable causes of abortion and eight secondary infertility controls with no history of pregnancy loss who had experienced at least one normal pregnancy and delivery by direct data-independent acquisition (dDIA) quantitative proteomics to identify differentially expressed proteins (DEPs). In this study, bioinformatics analysis was performed using online software including g:profiler, String, and ToppGene. Cytoscape was used to construct the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, and ELISA was used for validation.

Results

Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis showed that the DEPs are involved in the biological processes (BP) of complement and coagulation cascades. Apolipoproteins (APOs) are key proteins in the PPI network. ELISA confirmed that APOB was low-expressed in both the FF and peripheral blood of URPL patients.

Conclusion

Dysregulation of the immune network intersecting coagulation and inflammatory response is an essential feature of URPL, and this disequilibrium exists as early as the oogenesis stage. Therefore, earlier intervention is necessary to prevent the development of URPL. Moreover, aberrant lipoprotein regulation appears to be a key factor contributing to URPL. The mechanism by which these factors are involved in the complement and coagulation cascade pathways remains to be further investigated, which also provides new candidate targets for URPL treatment.

J, Ahmad SF, Attia SM, Emran TB, Patil RB, Ahmed SSSJ. Structural Characteristics of PON1 with Leu55Met and Gln192Arg Variants Influencing Oxidative-Stress-Related Diseases: An Integrated Molecular Modeling and Dynamics Study

Background and Objectives: PON1 is a multi-functional antioxidant protein that hydrolyzes a variety of endogenous and exogenous substrates in the human system. Growing evidence suggests that the Leu55Met and Gln192Arg substitutions alter PON1 activity and are linked with a variety of oxidative-stress-related diseases. Materials and Methods: We implemented structural modeling and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation along with essential dynamics of PON1 and molecular docking with their endogenous (n = 4) and exogenous (n = 6) substrates to gain insights into conformational changes and binding affinity in order to characterize the specific functional ramifications of PON1 variants. Results: The Leu55Met variation had a higher root mean square deviation (0.249 nm) than the wild type (0.216 nm) and Gln192Arg (0.202 nm), implying increased protein flexibility. Furthermore, the essential dynamics analysis confirms the structural change in PON1 with Leu55Met vs. Gln192Arg and wild type. Additionally, PON1 with Leu55Met causes local conformational alterations at the substrate binding site, leading to changes in binding affinity with their substrates. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the structural consequences of the variants, which would increase understanding of the role of PON1 in the pathogenesis of oxidative-stress-related diseases, as well as the management of endogenous and exogenous chemicals in the treatment of diseases.