Project description:91 preterm infant gut metaproteomes measured in technical duplicate using an eleven salt pulse 2D-LC-MS/MS method. Samples represent 17 preterm infants over the first several weeks of life, of which 6 preterm infants eventually developed necrotizing enterocolitis.
Project description:Injury occurring during critical periods of development may have long-term effects on inflammatory responses. Periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) is the most common cause of cerebral palsy (CP) in preterm infant. Activated leukocytes are the main source of inflammatory cytokines that give rise to white matter damage and CP in preterm infant. Here, we tested the hypothesis that inflammation profiles as pathogenic mediators for the occurrence of PVL in the neonatal period may persist in preterm children with CP at school age. Five preterm children with PVL-induced CP and gestational age-matched five preterm children with normal neurodevelopment were recruited from follow up clinics. Proinflammatory gene expression in the PBMCs from preterm children were determined by Superarray PCR study.
Project description:Preterm birth, defined as birth <37 weeks of gestation, is a leading cause of infant morbidity and mortality. In the United States, approximately 12% of all births are preterm.1 Despite decades of research, there has been little progress in developing effective interventions to prevent preterm birth. In fact, the rate of preterm birth has increased slightly over the last several decades.2 The ultimate goal of the Genomic and Proteomic Network for Preterm Birth Research (GPN-PBR) is to identify possible biomarkers that could predict the susceptibility to spontaneous preterm birth (SPTB) as well as to shed light on the molecular mechanisms involved in its etiologies. Understanding those mechanisms will help us predict SPTB and may facilitate the introduction of more effective prevention and treatment strategies.
Project description:Injury occurring during critical periods of development may have long-term effects on inflammatory responses. Periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) is the most common cause of cerebral palsy (CP) in preterm infant. Activated leukocytes are the main source of inflammatory cytokines that give rise to white matter damage and CP in preterm infant. Here, we tested the hypothesis that inflammation profiles as pathogenic mediators for the occurrence of PVL in the neonatal period may persist in preterm children with CP at school age.
Project description:Preterm birth is a major cause of infant mortality and morbidity. The rate of preterm birth is 5-9% in most developed countries and 12% in the United States with approximately 15 million children born prematurely each year. Globally, prematurity is the second most common cause of death in children under the age of five years. To characterize the transcriptomic changes between preterm and full term neonates, RNA-sequencing was applied altogether to 14 cord blood samples. The analysis of the RNA-sequencing data revealed that the spontaneous preterm delivery resulted in systemic inflammatory responses at the gene and pathway level in the fetus.
Project description:Preterm neonates are susceptible to gastrointestinal (GI) disorders such as necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). Maternal milk, and especially colostrum, protects against NEC via growth promoting, immunomodulatory and antimicrobial factors. The fetal enteral diet, amniotic fluid (AF), contains similar bioactive components and we hypothesized that postnatal AF administration would reduce inflammatory responses and NEC in preterm neonates. Thirty preterm pigs (92% gestation) were delivered by caesarean section and fed total parental nutrition (TPN) for 48 h followed by enteral porcine colostrum (COLOS, n=7), infant formula (FORM, n=13) or formula + porcine AF (AF, n=10). Using a previously validated model of NEC in preterm pigs, we determined the structural, functional, microbiological and immunological responses to AF when administered prior to and after introduction of a suboptimal enteral formula diet. Keywords: Healthy versus inflammed tissues in relation to necrotizing enterocolitis Pigs from each treatment group (COLOS, n=4; FORM, n=6; and AF, n=7) were randomly selected for microarray analysis of frozen distal small intestine samples. The FORM group was further divided into formula-fed healthy pigs (F-HEA, n=3) and formula-fed NEC pigs (F-NEC, n=3) in order to compare sick versus healthy formula fed pigs. Equal amounts of total distal small intestinal RNA from all pigs were pooled to make the reference sample. Samples and reference pool were labelled with Oyster 550 and 650, respectively. The in-house spotted porcine oligonucleotide microarray version 4 (POM4) is a low density microarray consisting of 384 different oligonucleotide probes representing more than 200 different immune related genes.
Project description:Preterm neonates are susceptible to gastrointestinal (GI) disorders such as necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). Maternal milk, and especially colostrum, protects against NEC via growth promoting, immunomodulatory and antimicrobial factors. The fetal enteral diet, amniotic fluid (AF), contains similar bioactive components and we hypothesized that postnatal AF administration would reduce inflammatory responses and NEC in preterm neonates. Thirty preterm pigs (92% gestation) were delivered by caesarean section and fed total parental nutrition (TPN) for 48 h followed by enteral porcine colostrum (COLOS, n=7), infant formula (FORM, n=13) or formula + porcine AF (AF, n=10). Using a previously validated model of NEC in preterm pigs, we determined the structural, functional, microbiological and immunological responses to AF when administered prior to and after introduction of a suboptimal enteral formula diet. Keywords: Healthy versus inflammed tissues in relation to necrotizing enterocolitis
Project description:Preterm birth is the major cause of newborn and infant mortality affecting nearly one in every ten live births. This study was designed to develop an epigenetic biomarker for susceptibility of preterm birth using buccal cells from the mother, father, and child (triads). MeDIP-seq was used to identify differential DNA methylation regions (DMRs) using a comparison of control term birth versus preterm birth triads. Epigenetic DMR associations with preterm birth were identified for both the mother and father that were distinct and suggest potential epigenetic contributions from both parents. The mother (165 DMRs) and female child (136 DMRs) at p<1e-04 had the highest number of DMRs and were highly similar suggesting potential epigenetic inheritance of the epimutations. The male child had negligible DMR associations. The DMR associated genes for each group involve previously identified preterm birth associated genes.
Project description:Genome wide placental DNA methylation profiling of full term and preterm deliveries sampled from 5 full term deliveries and 4 preterm deliveries. The Illumina HumanMethylation450 Beadchip was used to obtain DNA methylation profiles across approximately 485,577 CpGs in formalin fixed samples. Samples included 4 placental tissues from 4 women with preterm delivery and 5 placental tissues from 5 women with full term delivery.