Eamon Fitzgerald, Mojun Shen, Hannah Ee Juen Yong, Zihan Wang, Irina Pokhvisneva, Sachin Patel, Nicholas O'Toole, Shiao-Yng Chan, Yap Seng Chong, Helen Chen, Peter D Gluckman, Jerry Chan, Patrick Kia Ming Lee, Michael J Meaney
Pathological placental inflammation increases the risk for several adult disorders, but these mediators are also expressed under homeostatic conditions, where their contribution to adult health outcomes is unknown. Here we define an inflammation-related expression signature, primarily expressed in Hofbauer cells of the term placenta and use expression quantitative trait loci to create a polygenic score (PGS) predictive of its expression. Using this PGS in the UK Biobank we conduct a phenome-wide association study, followed by Mendelian randomization and identify protective, sex-dependent effects of the placental module on cardiovascular and depressive outcomes...
November 14, 2023: Nature Communications