Cited by 345Birth, Development, and HealthGenetic and Clinical Aspects of Sex Determination and Chromosomal AbnormalitiesGenetic Syndromes and Imprinting

Placental contribution to the origins of sexual dimorphism in health and diseases: sex chromosomes and epigenetics

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Gabory, Anne, Roseboom, Tessa J, Moore, Tom, Moore, Lorna G, Junien, Claudine·2013·Biology of Sex Differences

Abstract

Sex differences occur in most non-communicable diseases, including metabolic diseases, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, psychiatric and neurological disorders and cancer. In many cases, the susceptibility to these diseases begins early in development. The observed differences between the sexes may result from genetic and hormonal differences and from differences in responses to and interactions with environmental factors, including infection, diet, drugs and stress. The placenta plays a key role in fetal growth and development and, as such, affects the fetal programming underlying subsequent adult health and accounts, in part for the developmental origin of health and disease (DOHaD). There is accumulating evidence to demonstrate the sex-specific relationships between diverse environmental influences on placental functions and the risk of disease later in life. As one of the few tissues easily collectable in humans, this organ may therefore be seen as an ideal system for studying how male and female placenta sense nutritional and other stresses, such as endocrine disruptors. Sex-specific regulatory pathways controlling sexually dimorphic characteristics in the various organs and the consequences of lifelong differences in sex hormone expression largely account for such responses. However, sex-specific changes in epigenetic marks are generated early after fertilization, thus before adrenal and gonad differentiation in the absence of sex hormones and in response to environmental conditions. Given the abundance of X-linked genes involved in placentogenesis, and the early unequal gene expression by the sex chromosomes between males and females, the role of X- and Y-chromosome-linked genes, and especially those involved in the peculiar placenta-specific epigenetics processes, giving rise to the unusual placenta epigenetic landscapes deserve particular attention. However, even with recent developments in this field, we still know little about the mechanisms underlying the early sex-specific epigenetic marks resulting in sex-biased gene expression of pathways and networks. As a critical messenger between the maternal environment and the fetus, the placenta may play a key role not only in buffering environmental effects transmitted by the mother but also in expressing and modulating effects due to preconceptional exposure of both the mother and the father to stressful conditions.

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  • There are many reports of changes in placental DNA methylation and histone proteins in response to environmental cues that have been associated with developmental programming of the offspring.

    “Epigenetics is a rapidly expanding field, and there are now many reports of changes in placental DNA methylation and histone proteins in response to environmental cues that have been associated with developmental programming of the offspring (203, 417, 522).”

    From Placental Origins of Chronic Disease (2016) · cites this paper as [203]

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  1. Eriksson JG Kajantie E Osmond C Thornburg K Barker DJ Boys live dangerously in the womb Am J Hum Biol 2009 22 330 335 19844898 PMC3923652

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Authors
Gabory, A., Roseboom, T. J., Moore, T., Moore, L. G., & Junien, C.
Affiliations
  • Biologie de la Reproduction, Environnement, Epigénétique et Développement (FR)
  • Amsterdam UMC Location University of Amsterdam (NL)
  • University College Cork (IE)
  • University of Colorado Denver (US)
  • Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (FR)
Corresponding author
Junien, Claudine
Venue
Biology of Sex Differences
Published
2013-03-21
Volume
4
Issue
1
Pages
5-5
ISSN
2042-6410 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2150272037
Cited by
344
References
163
Citations by year
2026: 17 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 37 · 2020: 31 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 24 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 32 · 2014: 21 · 2013: 9
FWCI
26.45
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Biology of Sex Differences (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Pure Amsterdam UMC (publishedVersion)
  • Arrow@dit (Dublin Institute of Technology) (acceptedVersion)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Cork Open Research Archive (University College Cork, Ireland) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Lenus, The Irish Health Repository (Dr Steevens Hospital Library) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Science Foundation Ireland
  • Agence Nationale de la Recherche
  • National Institutes of Health (079647)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Birth, Development, and Health
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic and Clinical Aspects of Sex Determination and Chromosomal Abnormalities
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Syndromes and Imprinting
Keywords
placenta, sexual dimorphism, sex differences in disease, sex chromosomes, X-linked genes, Y chromosome, epigenetics, developmental origins of health and disease, fetal programming, sex-specific gene expression, endocrine disruptors, sex hormones, non-communicable diseases, maternal environment

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