title: Extending the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease theory: does paternal diet contribute to breast cancer risk in daughters?
abstract: The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) theory focuses on the consequences of periconceptional and in utero exposures. A wide range of environmental conditions during early development are now being investigated as a driving force for epigenetic disruptions that enhance disease risk in later life, including cardiovascular, metabolic, endocrine, and mental disorders and even breast cancer. Most studies involve mother-child dyads, with less focus on environmental influences through the father. Over the last few years, however, new insights have been introduced on paternal effects and the plasticity of the epigenome of developing sperm cells have been proposed to underlie inheritable changes from ancestral exposures. The field is evolving rapidly and study results from animal models are promising. Although caution should be taken in translating animal data to humans, epidemiological findings also suggest a prominent role of the father. Therefore, we here propose an extension to the DOHaD theory to include also paternally inheritable influences.
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology Research Group, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Romanus
authors.affiliation: Division of Gynaecological Oncology, Leuven Cancer Institute, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Neven
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology Research Group, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium. adelheid.soubry@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Adelheid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Soubry
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018812:Paternal Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D012306:Risk
keywords: DOHaD; Epigenetics; Paternal influences