DIABETES AND EPIGENETICS

Environmental factors cause changes in the patterns of gene expression that are maintained over the years, even when the factor that alters them disappears. Children who have been exposed in the uterus to malnutrition, obesity or gestational diabetes of the mother present an increased risk of developing diabetes in adulthood, thus perpetuating the vicious circle of the disease. Epigenetic alterations in the DNA methylation patterns of the leptin and adiponectin genes have been found in the placentas of diabetic mothers, which induce an increased risk for offspring to develop metabolic diseases.