Epigenetic code and potential epigenetic-based therapies against chronic diseases in developmental origins

• Prenatal insults in human beings are associated with future development of chronic diseases.
• Prenatal insults-induced epigenetic changes are involved in the developmental origins of chronic diseases.
• Epigenetic code represents a new and exciting opportunity for therapy against chronic diseases.

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.