Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Fetal development is highly sensitive to environmental influences, including maternal smoking during pregnancy (MSDP) and air pollution. The placenta may play a central role in mediating these effects through epigenetic mechanisms, including small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs). While most studies have focused on microRNAs (miRNAs), other sncRNA classes remain poorly characterized. Here, we characterized the placental sncRNA landscape and investigated its associations with prenatal exposure to MSDP and air pollution. The sncRNA expression profile of 390 chorionic villi samples from the Barcelona Life Study Cohort (BiSC) was measured using small RNA sequencing and the seqBuster/seqCluster pipeline. MSDP was assessed via questionnaire, and prenatal exposure to black carbon (BC), particulate matter ≤2.5 μm (PM 2.5) , and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2) was estimated using hybrid dispersion-land-use regression (LUR) spatiotemporal models. Associations were evaluated using linear regressions adjusted for relevant covariates. We identified 979 placental sncRNA clusters, assigned primarily to miRNAs (33.2%), piRNAs (26.4%), snoRNAs (12.2%), tRFs (7.8%), and others (20.4%). MSDP was associated with the downregulation of miR-421 and the upregulation of multiple snoRNAs from the imprinted DLK1-DIO3 locus ( SNORD113-4, SNORD114-2, SNORD114-3, and SNORD114-17 ), as well as the piR-26394. No sncRNAs remained significantly associated with air pollution after multiple-testing correction, although several miRNAs showed suggestive associations. Overall, this study provides a comprehensive characterization of placental sncRNAs and identifies previously unreported smoking-associated sncRNAs within the imprinted DLK1-DIO3 locus, expanding our understanding of placental epigenetic responses to prenatal environmental exposures.
Source: medRxiv
Authors: Álvaro Falcón-Gracia, Hana Vespalcová, Dolors Peligrí, Sofia Aguilar-Lacasaña, Lorena Pantano, Ramil N. Nurtdinov, Zoraida García, Alan Domínguez, Laura Gómez-Herrera, Olga Sánchez, Mireia Gascón, Maria Foraster, Roderic Guigó, Elisa Llurba, Maria Dolores Gomez-Roig, Ioar Rivas, Payam Dadvand, Jordi Sunyer, Mariona Bustamante, Marta Cosin-Tomas
Institutions: Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona Institute for Global Health, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Epidemiología y Salud Pública, Universitat de Barcelona, Harvard University, Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Centre for Genomic Regulation, Hospital de Sant Pau, Institut de Recerca Sant Pau, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Red de Salud Materno Infantil y del Desarrollo, Institut Universitari d'Investigació en Atenció Primària Jordi Gol, Universitat Ramon Llull, Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
Language: English
Subfield: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G1622782223, G1799927510, G1883578392, G2038104832, G2064873908, G2355262757, G2462415295, G288263039, G3005324705, G318412399, G3546882995, G3663251521, G4043836026, G410571670, G4228227490, G451917667, G4749042089, G4993905653, G5195188938, G5539308778, G5852091828, G5967599077, G6033112984, G6453073141, G6520718613, G6656126374, G69051668, G7463822469, G7803679391, G8212248820, G8257616728, G8277360679, G8330114565, G8450998669, Contaminación del aire, ‘small non-codings RNAs’ placentarios y desarrollo cerebral., G8637226926, G929308097
OpenAlex ID: W7222934046