Graduation Year

2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

M.S.P.H.

Degree Name

MS in Public Health (M.S.P.H.)

Degree Granting Department

Public Health

Major Professor

Derek Wildman, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Monica Uddin, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Chengqi Wang, Ph.D.

Keywords

preeclampsia, pregnancy, hypertension, epigenetics, DNA methylation

Abstract

Preeclampsia (PE) is a life-threatening hypertensive disorder in pregnancy (HDP) characterized by high blood pressure and proteinuria after 20 weeks of gestation. PE poses significant risks to both maternal and child health. An incomplete etiopathogenesis, diverse disease heterogeneity, and limited intervention and detection strategies further exacerbate and perpetuate PE as a major public health concern. By assessing symptom severity of placental tissues from PE pregnancies and analyzing the DNA methylation differences, this thesis aimed to identify epigenetic variations contributing to disease heterogeneity. Using the publicly available dataset GSE 98224, differentially methylated region (DMR) analysis on placental samples (n=48) revealed increasing hypomethylation with PE symptom severity. Shared promoters across PE severities (n=370) suggest similar pathophysiology despite clinical presentation. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment showed hypermethylated and hypomethylated promoters predominantly involved in biological processes like cell identify, signaling, immunity, vascularity, and embryogenesis, indicating overlapping pathways regardless of symptom severity. The results highlight the complexity of PE and suggest that using separate clinical criteria to make diagnoses is counterintuitive in HDPs, given the shared underlying pathology and risk of birthing complications and health outcomes.

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