Abstract: In recent years, a number of animal experiments and epidemiological studies focused on the "Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD)" theory have revealed that DNA methylation, histone modification and transcriptional regulation of non-coding RNA and other epigenetic modifications may play important roles in the development of embryonic-derived disease. For instance, abnormal methylation of nr3c1 and 11β-hsd-2 gene can affect the development of fetal nervous system, resulting in postnatal neurobehavioral depression, schizophrenia and other mental disorders; while the role of histone deacetylase HDAC3 in the development of the second ventricle is directly correlated to the onset of human congenital heart disease, including morphological defects in the second ventricular development and extracellular matrix abnormalities. This review summarizes the research advances in epigenetic changes based on the development of embryonic-derived disease in order to provide reliable theoretical and experimental evidences for the prevention, clinical diagnosis and treatment of some known embryonic-derived diseases.

Key words: Embryonic-derived disease, Epigenetics, DNA methylation, Histone modification, Non-coding RNA