Furthermore, after separating by gender, we noticed a difference not identified in the population as a whole, with DNMT1 (IUGR mean for males 0.62 vs control mean for males 1.42, p = 0.004) and INPPF5 (IUGR mean for the placenta of males 0.87 vs mean control males 1.42, p = 0.018) being less abundant in IUGR males compared to controls, while GRB10, a potent growth inhibitor, is higher in IUGR males (IUGR mean for males 0.98 vs control mean for males 0.62, p = 0.026) (Additional file 9). Here, DNMT1 is linked to fetal growth restriction.