Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

2530

Date

2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Public Health

Major

Public Health

Concentration

Epidemiology

Committee Chair

Wilfried Joachim Jurgen Karmaus

Committee Member

Hongmei Zhang

Committee Member

Fawaz Mzayek

Abstract

ProblemImmune changes occur during pregnancy, including a bias towards Th2 responses. This study explored maternal DNA methylation (DNA-M) of Th1, Th2, Th17, and Treg pathway genes before and during pregnancy.MethodsBlood DNA-M was measured in 54 women at age 18, and again in the first (weeks 8-21, n=39) and second (weeks 22-38, n=35) halves of pregnancy. Cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG) sites in genes of the T cell pathways were compared to random samples of CpGs, contrasting non-pregnancy with first and second halves of gestation using mixed linear models.ResultsMore CpGs within the Th2 pathway (35%) changed significantly compared to randomly selected CpGs (24%) in the first half. In second half, more CpGs of Th1 (36%) and Th2 (34%) pathways changed significantly.ConclusionsMethylation changes in the Th2 pathway genes suggest involvement of DNA-M in the Th2 bias. Changes in the Th1 pathway need further exploration.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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