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Pre-eclampsia TAC-seq

ABSTRACT: The etiology of preeclampsia, a hypertensive disorder of human pregnancy, remains unknown. We addressed fetal sex selection and the suggestive role of fetal HLA-G and related genes, regulating maternal immune responses, in preeclampsia pathogenesis. We assessed birth sex ratios, weights, and seasonality of preeclampsia among 1.79 million births in Finland. We studied haplotypes of HLA-G 3’ untranslated region (UTR), regulating HLA-G expression, in 1000 Genomes series and in a preeclampsia cohort (n=1249). We quantified placental (n=163) mRNA expression of 136 genes, studied HLA-G and IFNα protein expression by immunohistochemistry, and measured maternal and fetal circulating IFNα levels by ELISA. Population-level data showed loss of male fetuses as a characteristic of preeclampsia. As a potential contributor to immune-mediated loss, we found balancing selection at HLA-G 3’UTR modulating sex ratio, and association of HLA-G 3’UTR haplotypes with placental HLA-G expression. HLA-G and its receptors were downregulated in preeclampsia placentas, and surprisingly, interferon alpha-1 (IFNA1) was highly upregulated. IFNA1 and HLA-G distinguished preeclampsia better than placental FLT1 expression. Fetal but not maternal circulating IFNα, produced by trophoblasts, showed association with maternal hypertension and fetal growth restriction. We uncover the link between placental HLA-G expression and human birth sex ratio. We propose that preeclampsia shares, through reduced HLA-G mediated immunotolerance, the mechanism needed to fight placental viral infections and malaria in evolution. IFNα upregulation in preeclampsia placenta, together with its known actions upstream of inflammatory genes, encourages testing IFNα inhibitors and especially the pregnancy-approved antimalarial hydroxichloroquine in treatment of preeclampsia.

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE125460 | GEO | 2019/11/25

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Preeclampsia (PE), which affects 4-8% of human pregnancies, causes significant maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Within the basal plate, placental cytotrophoblasts (CTBs) of fetal origin invade the uterus and extensively remodel the maternal vasculature. In PE, CTB invasion is often shallow, and vascular remodeling is rudimentary. To better understand possible causes, we conducted a global analysis of gene expression at the maternal-fetal interface in placental samples from women with PE (n = 12; 24-36 wk) vs. samples from women who delivered due to preterm labor with no evidence of infection (n = 11; 24-36 wk), a condition that our previous work showed is associated with normal CTB invasion. Using the HG-U133A&B Affymetrix GeneChip platform, and statistical significance set at log odds-ratio of B >0, 55 genes were differentially expressed in PE. They encoded proteins previously associated with PE [e.g. Flt-1 (vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1), leptin, CRH, and inhibin] and novel molecules [e.g. sialic acid binding Ig-like lectin 6 (Siglec-6), a potential leptin receptor, and pappalysin-2 (PAPP-A2), a protease that cleaves IGF-binding proteins]. We used quantitative PCR to validate the expression patterns of a subset of the genes. At the protein level, we confirmed PE-related changes in the expression of Siglec-6 and PAPP-A2, which localized to invasive CTBs and syncytiotrophoblasts. Notably, Siglec-6 placental expression is uniquely human, as is spontaneous PE. The functional significance of these novel observations may provide new insights into the pathogenesis of PE, and assaying the circulating levels of these proteins could have clinical utility for predicting and/or diagnosing PE. Keywords: disease state analysis Basal plate biopsies of preterm labor (24-36 weeks; n=11) and preterm severe preeclampsia (24-36 weeeks; n=12) were isolated and the global gene expression profiles determined using Affymetrix Human GeneChips. Comparisons between the preeclampsia samples and the preterm labor controls revealed genes differentially expressed in preeclampsia.

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Pre-eclampsia TAC-seq

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