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.

Project description:Background: Preeclampsia (PE) is a placental disease characterized by hypertension and proteinuria in pregnant women, which is associated with a high maternal and infantile morbidity. However, circulating biomarkers able to predict the prognosis of PE are lacking. Methods: Thirty-eight women were included in the study. They consisted of 19 patients with PE (13 with severe PE and 6 women with non-severe PE) and 19 gestational age-matched normal pregnancy controls. We measured coagulation pathway, endothelial responses and microparticle release and circulating gene expression in PE patient groups and normotensive controls. Results: The measurement of markers associated with coagulation pathway, endothelial activation and circulating microparticles enabled to discriminate PE from normal pregnancy but were not sufficient to distinguish severe from non-severe PE. PE patients also exhibited a specific transcriptional program distinct from that of control women and subtle differences were observed between severe and non-severe PE. Functional annotation of the up-modulated signature in PE highlighted two main functions related to ribosome and complement. Importantly, we found that 8 genes were specifically up-modulated in severe preeclampsia. Among these genes, the expression of VSIG4 was significantly increased in patients with severe preeclampsia in comparison with controls and patients with non-severe preeclampsia. Conclusion: Using transcriptional signatures of blood samples, we identified the gene encoding the estrogen receptor as a potential diagnostic marker of severe preeclampsia. In addition, the determination of this gene may improve the prognostic assessment of severe preeclampsia. Thirty-eight women were included in the study: 19 patients with PE, including 6 women with non-severe PE and 13 with severe PE, and 19 women with normal pregnancy (NP) selected according to age, weight, smoking status, race, gestational age at the inclusion, and blood pH (Table 1 of manuscript). Women with NP had no history of medical illness or medication, and received routing prenatal care. The diagnostic of PE was based on a blood pressure of M-bM-^IM-% 140/90 mmHg taken twice, uricemia above normal laboratory range (120-420 M-BM-5mol/L), and proteinuria higher than 300 mg in a 24 hour-collection, occurring after 20 gestational weeks in previously normotensive women (Table 2). The criteria used to define severe PE included one of the following conditions: a blood pressure higher than 160/110 mmHg, a proteinuria higher than 1500 mg/24h), a multisystem disorder, maternal cerebral symptoms (seizures, stroke) or intrauterine growth restriction below the 3M-BM-0 percentile. Women with multiple gestations, fetal congenital malformations/chromosomal abnormalities, recent infection, antiphospholipid antibodies, trauma, drug or alcohol abuse during pregnancy, preexisting hypertension, thrombophilia with PE history, or women receiving anticoagulant or antiaggregation therapy were excluded from the study. Two microarrays (one non-severe PE and one normal) were discarded from the analysis for technical reasons. Thus, only 36 microarrays are included here.

Project description:Preeclampsia (PE), a multifactorial pregnancy-specific syndrome accounting for up to 8% of pregnancy complications, is a leading cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality and PE is also associated with long-term risk of hypertension and stroke for both the mother and fetus. Currently, the only “cure” is delivery of the baby and placenta, largely because the pathogenesis of preeclampsia is not yet fully understood. Preeclampsia is associated with impaired vascular remodeling at the maternal-fetal interface and placental insufficiency; however, the specific factors that contribute to this impairment have not been identified. To identify potential contributing pathways, we examined temporal transcriptomic changes occurring within the uterus, uterine implantation sites, and placentae from the Dahl salt-sensitive (Dahl S) rat model of superimposed preeclampsia compared to Sprague Dawley (SD) rats. We hypothesized that the Dahl S maternal-fetal interface would exhibit a unique temporal transcriptomic profile unveiling novel biomarkers, therapeutic targets, and mechanistic pathways regarding the development of PE. Our initial study focused on evaluation of genes previously linked to the development PE from using real time quantitative PCR (RT qPCR) and total RNA was isolated from uterus (day 0), uterine implantation sites (days 7, 10, 14), and placenta (days 14 and 20). Subsequently, an unbiased transcriptome analysis was performed at each time point using whole genome microarray to identify novel factors involved in PE. 624, 332, 185 , and 366 genes were found to be differentially expressed on days 0, 7, 10 and 14 respectively, with a Reactome Pathway enrichment for “Fatty acid metabolism, Metabolism of water-soluble vitamins and cofactors, Metabolism, Synthesis of substrates in N-glucan biosynthesis on Day 7”; ”Glycerophospholipid biosynthesis, Phospholipid metabolism, and Metabolism of lipids on Day 10”; and “Metabolism of lipids, Phospholipid metabolism, degradation of the extracellular matrix, Fatty acid metabolism, and Collagen degradation on Day 14” in the Dahl S rat vs. SD. Our data revealed numerous pathways that may play a role in the pathophysiology of spontaneous superimposed PE and allow for further investigation of novel therapeutic targets and biomarker development.

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Homo sapiens

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