# Understanding socioeconomic disparities in perinatal risk: The role of epigenetic and transcriptional regulation in the placenta

> **NIH NIH R01** · NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $694,056

## Abstract

This application is a response to PAR #16-355 “Social Epigenomics Research Focused on Minority Health and
Health Disparities.” In the contemporary United States, children's outcomes vary substantially by their family's
socioeconomic status (SES). These disparities are present in multiple domains, including cognitive
development, psychiatric disorders, and physical health. As low-SES youth mature into adulthood, they
continue to have disproportionately poor outcomes, as reflected in poverty rates, mental health problems, and
morbidity and mortality from chronic diseases associated with aging. Social science has identified a variety of
structural, contextual, and psychological factors that contribute to these disparities. But we have only a
superficial understanding of how these factors “get under the skin” to influence biological processes that are
proximally involved in brain maturation, health problems, and other outcomes that pattern by SES. Recently,
theorists have addressed this question by posting that socioeconomic disadvantage gets biologically
embedded during gestation, a sensitive period when multiple organ systems are developing. Animal models
show that gestational influences of this sort are possible, and mediated in significant part through modulation of
epigenetic and transcriptional processes in the placenta. Nevertheless, studies have yet to comprehensively
examine the plausibility of the embedding hypothesis in human subjects. We seek to fill this gap here by
recruiting an economically diverse sample of 700 women during pregnancy, and characterizing multiple
dimensions of their lifecourse socioeconomic conditions. At delivery, we will biopsy women's placentas, and
measure gene regulation in a biologically integrated fashion by assaying patterns of DNA methylation (DNAm),
and expression of microRNA (miRNA) and messenger RNA (mRNA). We hypothesize that to the extent that
women are lower in SES, their placental biopsies will show epigenetic and transcriptional patterns indicative of
lower fetal tolerance, greater immune activation, and slower organ maturation. Using data from geocoding,
interviews, and questionnaires, we also will develop a multilevel framework. It will specify connections between
features of neighborhoods (economic deprivation, violent crime, residential segregation, social capital), families
(job instability, financial duress, relationship qualities), and individuals (depressive symptoms, pregnancy
anxiety, lifestyle factors), and characterize the strength and nature of their associations with dimensions of
placental gene regulation, i.e., DNAm, miRNA, and mRNA. Finally, we will clarify the clinical implications of
these patterns by examining their connections to preterm birth and growth restriction. We hypothesize that
lower SES women will experience higher incidences of both conditions relative to higher SES women. Using
mediation analyses, we will attempt to identify molecular pathways that contribute to these d...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10151477
- **Project number:** 5R01MD011749-05
- **Recipient organization:** NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Ann E.B. Borders
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $694,056
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-26 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10151477

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10151477, Understanding socioeconomic disparities in perinatal risk: The role of epigenetic and transcriptional regulation in the placenta (5R01MD011749-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10151477. Licensed CC0.

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