title: Epigenetic code and potential epigenetic-based therapies against chronic diseases in developmental origins.
abstract: Accumulated findings have demonstrated that the epigenetic code provides a potential link between prenatal stress and changes in gene expression that could be involved in the developmental programming of various chronic diseases in later life. Meanwhile, based on the fact that epigenetic modifications are reversible and can be manipulated, this provides a unique chance to develop multiple novel epigenetic-based therapeutic strategies against many chronic diseases in early developmental periods. This article will give a short review of recent findings of prenatal insult-induced epigenetic changes in developmental origins of several chronic diseases, and will attempt to provide an overview of the current epigenetic-based strategies applied in the early prevention, diagnosis and possible therapies for human chronic diseases.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Fetology, The First Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China.
authors.forename: Qinqin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Institute for Fetology, The First Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China.
authors.forename: Jiaqi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Institute for Fetology, The First Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute for Fetology, The First Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Institute for Fetology, The First Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China.
authors.forename: Xiaolin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Institute for Fetology, The First Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China; Center for Prenatal Biology, Loma Linda University, CA 92350, USA. Electronic address: xuzhice@suda.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zhice
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001927:Brain Diseases; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases; D002908:Chronic Disease; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders; D008659:Metabolic Diseases; D009369:Neoplasms; D049188:Prenatal Injuries