Early life insult from cigarette smoke may be predictive of chronic diseases later in life

Abstract

Evidence is rapidly accumulating that links cigarette smoke (CS) exposure in utero with the development of a variety of disease pathologies in the older offspring including, type 2 diabetes, obesity, certain childhood cancers and respiratory disorders. The role that the fetal environment plays in these late-onset outcomes and the underlying cellular/molecular mechanisms by which these CS-induced effects may occur are currently unknown. Although we are becoming more aware of the fact that prenatal insult can underlie childhood/adult diseases, critical knowledge gaps still exist including gene-environment interactions, and how a CS-induced imbalance in immune dynamics (i.e. TH1/TH2) might affect asthma development and/or exacerbation later in life. In this mini-review we introduce the concept of sexual dimorphism in CS-induced late-onset disease outcomes, as well as explore the mechanisms by which CS exposure in utero can lead to cardiovascular, cancer and respiratory abnormalities in the exposed offspring. By addressing such questions using animal models, appropriate intervention strategies can be developed that will help to protect children's health and their long-term quality of life.

Cigarette smoking in China: public health, science, and policy

“…In addition, unborn children represent a substantially large population with ETS exposure. A recent study emphasized that cigarette smoke exposure in utero can potentially cause the development of a variety of diseases in the older offspring, e.g., type 2 diabetes, obesity, certain childhood cancers, respiratory disorders (17) . Chemicals in cigarette smoke are likely to cause serious perturbations of maternal-fetal interactions and embryonic development leading to the lateonset diseases.…”

A Comparison of the Fagerström Test for Cigarette Dependence and Cigarette Dependence Scale in a Treatment-Seeking Sample of Pregnant Smokers

“…Smoking during pregnancy is not only harmful for the mother but also for the fetus; it is strongly associated with low birth weight, premature delivery, and several medical and psychiatric disorders in the offspring not only in childhood but also later in life. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] Although pregnant smokers are aware of the harmful effect of smoking, 21,22 those who do not quit are probably those who are the most dependent on cigarettes. Therefore, assessment of cigarette dependence among pregnant smokers is a major issue and instruments assessing it should be extensively studied to learn which one is the best measure of cigarette dependence and the best predictor of postquit abstinence.…”

Posttranslational Histone Modifications and the Neurobiology of Psychosis

“…A number of nonpsychiatric diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, have been linked to environmental exposures during fetal development, and these exposures, in turn, have been found to cause epigenetic changes (Feinberg 2007;Gardner et al 2007;Roberts 2010;Simmons 2009), leading to the hypothesis that many adult diseases with epigenetic underpinnings have fetal origins (Bezek et al 2008;Doherty et al 2009). Recently, it has been shown that certain prenatal environmental factors can influence the epigenetic programs in the fetal brain, and that these changes are detectable later in life.…”