Cumulative influence of parity-related genomic changes in multiple sclerosis.
Pregnancy reduces the frequency of relapses in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and parity also has a beneficial long term effect on disease outcome. We aimed to uncover the biological mechanisms underlying the beneficial long-term effects of parity in MS. Genome-wide gene expression revealed 574 genes associated with parity; 38.3% showed significant DNA methylation changes (enrichment p = 0.029). These genes overlapped with previous MS genes in humans and a rat MS model and were overrepresented within axon guidance (P = 1.6e-05), developmental biology (P = 0.0094) and cell-cell communication (P = 0.019) pathways. This gene regulation could provide a basis for a protective effect of parity on the long-term outcome of MS.
['Mehta|Divya|D|', 'Wani|Shivangi|S|', 'Wallace|Leanne|L|', 'Henders|Anjali K|AK|', 'Wray|Naomi R|NR|', 'McCombe|Pamela A|PA|']
D000328:Adult D000818:Animals D019175:DNA Methylation D005260:Female D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study D006801:Humans D009103:Multiple Sclerosis D010298:Parity D011247:Pregnancy D011248:Pregnancy Complications D051381:Rats
Multiple sclerosis Pregnancy Gene expression DNA methylation