Introduction: Smoking during pregnancy is associated with reduced foetal growth, amongst other effects. Epigenetic modification in the foetus and placenta during embryonic development as a result of changes in the function of miRNAs is one of the pathophysiological mechanisms responsible for this. This dysregulation may be due to environmental changes or toxins such as tobacco.
Objective: To study the impact of smoking during pregnancy and its role in intrauterine growth restriction via hypermethylated miRNAs.
Materials and methods: The differences in methylation patterns for miRNAs in umbilical cord blood from low-birth-weight newborns of smoking mothers were compared with those from normal-weight newborns using MedIP-seq (StarArray).
Results: Seven hypermethylated miRNAs were identified in the epigenetic study of cord blood from low-birth-weight newborns of smoking mothers in our sample. The miRNAs found to be hypermethylated were: MIR7-1, MIR3918, MIR1244-1, MIR4721, MIR25, MIR93, MIR3656.
Conclusion: Intrauterine exposure to tobacco induces hypermethylation-mediated miRNA silencing in low-birth-weight newborns by modifying the expression of factors involved in vascular development, growth, and adaptation to hypoxia.
Keywords: epigenetic modifications; intrauterine growth restriction; miRNA; tobacco.