Data for Placental miRNAs associate with early childhood growth characteristics

Poor placental function is a common cause of intrauterine growth restriction and is associated with perinatal morbidity, mortality and long-term health outcomes. Our prior work suggests that birthweight and childhood obesity-associated genetic variants functionally impact placental function and that placental miRNA are associated with birthweight. To address the role of placenta in developmental programming beyond birth, we assessed the role of placental miRNAs in early childhood growth. We estimated growth intensity and average size between birth and five years of age using weight measures collected from children in the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study (NHBCS). Using negative binomial generalized linear models, we identified five placental miRNAs that associate with growth intensity and one miRNA with average size (FDR0.05), while accounting for sex, gestational age at birth, and maternal parity. Genes targeted by growth trajectory-associated miRNAs are enriched (FDR0.02) in growth factor signaling (TGF/beta: miR-1290; EGF/R: miR-155, Let-7c; FGF/R: miR-155; IGF/R: Let-7c, miR-155, miR-1290), cyclic AMP signaling (miR-1246), calmodulin signaling (miR-216a, miR-1246), and NOTCH signaling (miR-629). These pathways function in placental proliferation, differentiation and function. Our results support the hypothesis that fetal environment, specifically placental cellular dynamics and function guided by miRNA expression, can have impacts beyond birth, into early childhood.