Publications by authors named "Cathrine Hoyo"
Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is among the most prevalent and deadly cancers worldwide. Chronic liver disease is the most established risk factor for HCC, but environmental exposures are increasingly recognized as contributor. In this narrative review, we sought to analyze data linking three substances to HCC: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and cadmium.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIron (Fe)-deficiency (ID) and Fe-deficiency anemia (IDA) are highly prevalent conditions and are of particular concern to maternal-child health. ID and IDA are typically linked to nutritional deficiencies, but maternal exposure to heavy metals including cadmium (Cd) also leads to offspring with low levels of circulating Fe. Another comorbidity of ID and IDA is metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), a liver condition characterized by lipid accumulation and fibrosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study evaluates the association between ambient temperature exposure during pregnancy and newborn birthweight, using a penalized generalized additive model (GAM) framework with distributed lag non-linear models (DLNM) to identify sensitive windows of exposure. The analysis includes 238 participants from the SHIP study with complete temperature exposure and birthweight data. Weekly maximum temperatures during pregnancy were estimated using Daymet data, and the impact of temperature on birthweight was assessed, adjusting for maternal age, pre-pregnancy BMI, gestational age, race, smoking, diabetes status, and infant biological sex.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The impact of short-chain, low molecular weight polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and long-chain, high molecular weight PFAS on elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) remains unclear. Additionally, demographic and behavioral factors influencing PFAS levels in the U.S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExposure to prenatal social stressors during pregnancy is associated with adverse birth outcomes and has been linked to epigenetic changes in DNA methylation (DNAm); however, less understood is the effect of neighborhood-level stressors like crime during pregnancy on offspring DNAm. Using data from the Newborn Epigenetic Study, we conducted epigenome-wide and regional analyses of the association between exposure to neighborhood crime and DNAm in offspring cord blood using Illumina's HumanMethylation450k BeadChip among 185 mother-offspring pairs. Prenatal exposure to neighborhood crime at the census block group level was mapped to participants' residential addresses during the gestational window from the date of last menstrual period to delivery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrenatal Smoking Exposures and Epigenome-wide Methylation in Newborn Blood.
Environ Health Perspect
June 2025
Background: Maternal sustained smoking during pregnancy is associated with thousands of differentially methylated CpGs in newborns, but impacts of other prenatal tobacco smoking exposures remain unclear.
Objective: To identify differential DNA methylation in newborns from maternal sustained smoking and less studied prenatal smoking exposures (i.e.
The current study examines the application of the Pediatric-Buccal-Epigenetic (PedBE) clock, designed for buccal epithelial cells, to endothelia. We evaluate the association of PedBE epigenetic age and age acceleration estimated from human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) with length of gestation and birthweight in a racially and ethnically diverse sample (analytic sample = 333). PedBE age was positively associated with gestational age at birth ( = 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- The study investigates the relationship between prenatal neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation (NSD) and early childhood weight status, considering the influence of race and ethnicity.
- Data from the Newborn Epigenetics Study (NEST) cohort were analyzed, tracking children's height and weight from 6 months to 3 years, and using multilevel logistic regression to identify associations between NSD and weight outcomes.
- Results showed that children in areas with high NSD had increased odds of being overweight or obese at 1 year old, particularly among NH Black children, highlighting the potential long-term health risks associated with socioeconomic factors during pregnancy.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the correlation between tobacco retail outlet (TRO) density and increased cotinine levels, a marker of smoke exposure, in pregnant individuals and their children.
- It simulates the impact of various policy recommendations to reduce TROs in North Carolina, finding that these policies could potentially lower cotinine levels and decrease emergency department visits among pregnant individuals.
- The research suggests that implementing policies like limiting TRO density and establishing minimum distance between outlets is effective, with a combined approach offering the greatest potential benefits, albeit with possible challenges in execution.
Article Synopsis
- CpG site methylation patterns could enhance the differentiation between high-grade and low-grade cervical abnormalities, potentially improving screening processes.
- In a study involving cervical samples from 117 low-grade (≤CIN1) and 31 high-grade (CIN2+) lesions, DNA was analyzed using Illumina HumanMethylation arrays to assess differential methylation (DM) and differential variability (DV) among cancer-associated genes.
- The results showed higher methylation in specific gene clusters for CIN2+ and identified 3,534 DM and 270 DV CpGs, with implications for refining cervical cancer screening algorithms through better triage of detected abnormalities.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the healthcare costs and usage linked to smoking during pregnancy using data from a birth cohort in North Carolina.
- Increased cotinine levels (a marker of nicotine exposure) were found to correlate with higher emergency department visits and intensive care unit hours for both parents and infants.
- Reducing smoking rates by even 5% could lead to significant cost savings, estimated at around $150,533 from emergency visits, indicating the potential economic benefits of smoking cessation programs.
Article Synopsis
- The study examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mothers with young children, focusing on factors like anxiety, stress, and financial issues before and during the pandemic.
- Mothers reported significant increases in anxiety (9.4%), perceived stress (13.3%), and financial stress (41.7%) during the pandemic, with family routines being the most affected area (72.4%).
- Interestingly, prepandemic psychosocial stress did not predict pandemic impact, indicating that new stresses arose during the pandemic that compounded existing inequalities rather than simply amplifying prior distress.
Article Synopsis
- Alzheimer's disease is more prevalent in non-Hispanic Blacks compared to non-Hispanic Whites, prompting a study on the role of methylation in this disparity.
- Researchers analyzed brain tissue DNA to identify differentially methylated regions (DMRs) related to imprint control regions (ICRs) in both AD patients and controls, revealing significant differences in methylation patterns.
- The study found 81 DMRs in non-Hispanic Black AD patients and 27 in non-Hispanic White AD patients, suggesting that changes in DNA methylation related to genomic imprinting may influence the risk of Alzheimer's and vary between these populations.
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- Maternal childhood adversity is linked to negative health outcomes for both mothers and their offspring, including potential effects on infant epigenetics.
- Research investigates how maternal restless sleep during pregnancy affects the relationship between childhood adversity and infant epigenetic age, involving 332 mother-infant pairs.
- Findings suggest that infants whose mothers experienced both childhood adversity and restless sleep show signs of accelerated epigenetic aging, indicating that these factors may influence the infant's epigenome.
Article Synopsis
- African American women experience poorer birth outcomes, such as preterm birth, largely due to multifaceted factors including psychosocial stressors and oxidative stress, which have not been extensively studied.
- The study measured psychosocial stressors among 50 pregnant women and linked higher oxidative stress in African Americans to increased adverse childhood experiences and depression, which were associated with lower gestational age at birth.
- While the findings are based on a small sample, they suggest a potential connection between psychosocial stress and oxidative stress in relation to preterm births in African Americans, indicating a need for larger studies to validate these results.
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- Differentially methylated imprint control regions (ICRs) play a crucial role in regulating gene expression, and their dysregulation can lead to chronic diseases, but current methods for profiling them are limited.
- A custom methylation array with 22,819 probes was developed to better assess ICRs, showing promise in comparison to traditional methods like WGBS and the Human Imprintome array.
- This new tool aims to enhance the accuracy of ICR assessments and facilitate research on their links to diseases and genetic imprinting throughout an individual’s life.
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- The study investigates the link between plastic bottle feeding and various health indicators in infants during their first year of life.
- It involved 442 infants from the Nurture birth cohort, analyzing the impact of plastic bottle feeding frequency at 3 months on growth metrics and microbiota composition at 12 months.
- Results showed that while plastic bottle feeding frequency affected fecal microbiota diversity and specific short-chain fatty acid levels, it did not lead to significant differences in overall growth measures, except for a slight impact on length-for-age.
Article Synopsis
- Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in mothers can impact the health of their newborns, as shown by alterations in DNA methylation patterns linked to stress and discrimination.
- Eight specific regions in the DNA were examined to see how maternal financial stress and discrimination during pregnancy relate to changes in DNA methylation in newborns.
- The study found that financial stress and discrimination during pregnancy were linked to different patterns of DNA methylation in newborns, but the significance of these interactions became less clear after further statistical analysis.
Article Synopsis
- * A meta-analysis of 37 studies revealed that higher MEA is linked to different DNA methylation patterns in offspring at birth, childhood, and adolescence, with significant findings at 473 specific sites associated with maternal factors like smoking and nutrition.
- * The research underscores the connection between socio-economic status and biological processes, enhancing our understanding of how maternal education impacts health through genetic mechanisms and emphasizing the role of social determinants in health disparities.
Breastfeeding and less healthy beverage intake during the first year of life.
Pediatr Obes
January 2024
Article Synopsis
- The study examines the impact of breastfeeding on beverage choices in infants during their first year, highlighting a link between breastfeeding and healthier beverage consumption.
- Infants who were breastfed had significantly lower rates of consuming 100% juice and sugar-sweetened beverages compared to non-breastfed infants.
- The findings suggest that promoting breastfeeding could be important in curbing early unhealthy beverage intake, which is crucial for better dietary health later in childhood.
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- Methylation levels in cervical samples may serve as predictive markers for the progression of precancerous cervical lesions, particularly high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN2+).
- A study analyzing DNA samples from 289 colposcopy patients showed that increased methylation at specific genes correlated with a quicker progression to CIN2+, with specific markers like CADM1 and RARB showing significant associations.
- The research also identified 336 novel CpGs related to disease progression, highlighting the potential for these markers in future cervical cancer assessments.
Article Synopsis
- This study investigated how maternal copper levels during pregnancy affect the risk of preterm birth (PTB) and the length of gestation.
- In a large group of 10,449 pregnancies from 18 different regions, researchers found that higher maternal copper levels were linked to an increased risk of PTB and shorter pregnancy duration.
- The findings suggest that elevated copper levels may be associated with inflammation and infections, potentially impacting pregnancy outcomes.
Article Synopsis
- Childhood appetitive traits are influenced by early-life epigenetic processes, particularly through DNA methylation (DNAm), where methyl groups attach to DNA and potentially affect appetite regulation.
- The study analyzed DNAm in cord blood from two cohorts, using multiple regression models to examine how different DNAm patterns correlated with children's eating behaviors reported by parents.
- While no direct associations were found at individual DNA sites, examining grouped methylation patterns revealed significant connections between DNAm and various appetitive traits, suggesting that DNA methylation in newborns might play a role in shaping eating behaviors as children grow.
Background: Tobacco smoking during pregnancy is associated with metabolic dysfunction in children, but mechanistic insights remain limited. Hypomethylation of cg05575921 in the aryl hydrocarbon receptor repressor (AHRR) gene is associated with in utero tobacco smoke exposure. In this study, we evaluated whether AHRR hypomethylation mediates the association between maternal smoking and metabolic dysfunction in children.
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