ArticleEpigenetics2017
The early pregnancy placenta foreshadows DNA methylation alterations of solid tumors.
Article in Epigenetics, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 47 citations in OpenAlex.
- Epigenetic Deregulation of Transposable Elements Links Developmental Processes and Tumorigenesis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Epigenetic Changes Regulating Epithelial-Mesenchymal Plasticity in Human Trophoblast Differentiation.Cells · 2025Article
- Epigenetic dynamics of partially methylated domains in human placenta and trophoblast stem cells.BMC genomics · 2024Article
- Sexually dimorphic DNA methylation and gene expression patterns in human first trimester placenta.Biology of sex differences · 2024Article
- Placenta: an old organ with new functions.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Review
- Article
- (Dis)similarities between the Decidual and Tumor Microenvironment.Biomedicines · 2022Review
- Can Immune Suppression and Epigenome Regulation in Placenta Offer Novel Insights into Cancer Immune Evasion and Immunotherapy Resistance?Epigenomes · 2021Review
- RNA-Seq reveals changes in human placental metabolism, transport and endocrinology across the first-second trimester transition.Biology open · 2021Article
- Identification of prognosis-related molecular subgroups based on DNA methylation in pancreatic cancer.Clinical epigenetics · 2021Article
- Human placental cytotrophoblast epigenome dynamics over gestation and alterations in placental disease.Developmental cell · 2021Article
- Methylation as a critical epigenetic process during tumor progressions among Iranian population: an overview.Genes and environment : the official journal of the Japanese Environmental Mutagen Society · 2021Review
- DNA Methylation and Recurrent Pregnancy Loss: A Mysterious Compass?Frontiers in immunology · 2021Review
- Maternal cholesterol levels during gestation: boon or bane for the offspring?Molecular and cellular biochemistry · 2021Review
- Article
- Allele-specific DNA methylation is increased in cancers and its dense mapping in normal plus neoplastic cells increases the yield of disease-associated regulatory SNPs.Genome biology · 2020Article
- Being Born Large for Gestational Age is Associated with Increased Global Placental DNA Methylation.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Reawakening the Developmental Origins of Cancer Through Transposable Elements.Frontiers in oncology · 2020Article
- Molecular subtypes based on DNA methylation predict prognosis in colon adenocarcinoma patients.Aging · 2019Article
- Human placental methylome in the interplay of adverse placental health, environmental exposure, and pregnancy outcome.PLoS genetics · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The placenta relies on phenotypes that are characteristic of cancer to successfully implant the embryo in the uterus during early pregnancy. Notably, it has to invade its host tissues, promote angiogenesis-while surviving hypoxia-, and escape the immune system. Similarities in DNA methylation patterns between the placenta and cancers suggest that common epigenetic mechanisms may be involved in regulating these behaviors. We show here that megabase-scale patterns of hypomethylation distinguish first from third trimester chorionic villi in the placenta, and that these patterns mirror those that distinguish many tumors from corresponding normal tissues. We confirmed these findings in villous cytotrophoblasts isolated from the placenta and identified a time window at the end of the first trimester, when these cells come into contact with maternal blood, as the likely time period for the methylome alterations. Furthermore, the large genomic regions affected by these patterns of hypomethylation encompass genes involved in pathways related to epithelial-mesenchymal transition, immune response, and inflammation. Analyses of expression profiles corresponding to genes in these hypomethylated regions in colon adenocarcinoma tumors point to networks of differentially expressed genes previously implicated in carcinogenesis and placentogenesis, where nuclear factor kappa B is a key hub. Taken together, our results suggest the existence of epigenetic switches involving large-scale changes of methylation in the placenta during pregnancy and in tumors during neoplastic transformation. The characterization of such epigenetic switches might lead to the identification of biomarkers and drug targets in oncology as well as in obstetrics and gynecology.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.