Maternal multi-generational high fat diet (HFD) exposure increases the offspring HCC incidence

Purpose: To investiagte why maternal obesity induces the susceptibility of offspring to diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-induced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) over generations upon over nutrition.The goals of this study are to find over-generationally altered genes and miRNAs which may contribute the accumulative progeny susceptibility to HCC under over nutrition. Methods: C57BL/6 female mice (F0 generation) were fed with either normal chow (NC) or HFD (60% kcal fat) from 1-month to 3-month old, and mated with NC-fed male mice to produce F1 generation. The F2 generation was similarly created. Male offspring of the F0, F1 and F2 generations were intraperitoneally injected with DEN at 2-weeks-old, and kept inmaintained on HFD and named as H1D, H2D and H3D groups, respectively. Male offspring of the F0 generation injected with PBS (Nor group) or DEN (NCD group) at the same age and kept inmaintained on NC. All groups were sacrificed at 40-weeks-old. Liver mRNA profiles and miRNA profiles from the different offspring groups were generated by LncRNA sequencing and small RNA sequencing. Results: We identified many over-generationally changed genes and miRNAs in the offspring by RNA-sequencing. Conclusions: The study revealed an important role of miRNA and targeting genes in regulating the incidence of HCC in the offspring of maternal-lineage under multi-generational HFD exposure, which has a profound effect on exploring the link between maternal obesity and the development of diseases in offspring. 10 samples (Nor rep1, Nor rep2, NCD rep1, NCD rep2, H1D rep1, H1D rep2, H2D rep1, H2D rep2, H3D rep1, H3D rep2) for lncRNA sequencing and 5 samples (Nor, NCD, H1D, H2D, H3D) for small RNA sequencing.