Genetic alteration with caesarean section

This article is also available in Italian.

As reported in a previous article, Asthma risk for babies born by caesarian section, seems that babies born by caesarian section are more at risk than those born with a normal vaginal delivery. Research done in Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm and published last July in the journal “Acta Paediatrica“, reveals that the risk associated with caesarean section is not only related to asthma, but also with an increased risk of allergies, diabetes and leukemia, even in adulthood.

This could be explained by epigenetic modification, called DNA methylation, found from analysis of 37 infants (21 born by vaginal delivery and 16 by cesarean) to which samples were taken blood from the umbilical cord just after birth and in subsequent days.

Mikael Norman, professor at the Karolinska Institutet, said:

We measured the level of DNA methylation, an important biological mechanism in which DNA is altered and genes are activated or deactivated depending on the environmental responses and we have found the values of DNA methylation in white blood cells of infants born with cesarean. We do not know for sure why, but the reason could be the high stress that babies suffer during a caesarean section, and that triggers an increase in methylation.

We still do not know precisely whether these genetic alterations, are of long duration, but this will be new object of study and research.