This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental Data Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Copyright Permission Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Winn, V. D. Articles by Fisher, S. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Winn, V. D. Articles by Fisher, S. J. Pubmed/NCBI databases GEO DataSet GEO Profiles Medline Plus Health Information Pregnancy

Gene Expression Profiling of the Human Maternal-Fetal Interface Reveals Dramatic Changes between Midgestation and Term

Departments of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences (V.D.W., R.H.-K., M.G.), Cell and Tissue Biology (R.H.-K., K.-T.V.F., S.M., L.P., S.J.F.), and Medicine (A.C.P., Y.J.Y.), Lung Biology Center, Departments of Biopharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmaceutical Chemistry (M.S.M., A.S.) and Anatomy and Pharmaceutical Chemistry (S.J.F.), California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research (M.S.M., A.S.), University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143; and Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics (D.A.B.), University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Virginia D. Winn, M.D., Ph.D., University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Reproductive Science, Mail Stop 8309, 12800 East 19th Avenue, P.O. Box 6511, Aurora, Colorado 80045. E-mail: virginia.winn{at}uchsc.edu.

Human placentation entails the remarkable integration of fetal and maternal cells into a single functional unit. In the basal plate region (the maternal-fetal interface) of the placenta, fetal cytotrophoblasts from the placenta invade the uterus and remodel the resident vasculature and avoid maternal immune rejection. Knowing the molecular bases for these unique cell-cell interactions is important for understanding how this specialized region functions during normal pregnancy with implications for tumor biology and transplantation immunology. Therefore, we undertook a global analysis of the gene expression profiles at the maternal-fetal interface. Basal plate biopsy specimens were obtained from 36 placentas (14–40 wk) at the conclusion of normal pregnancies. RNA was isolated, processed, and hybridized to HG-U133A&B Affymetrix GeneChips. Surprisingly, there was little change in gene expression during the 14- to 24-wk interval. In contrast, 418 genes were differentially expressed at term (37–40 wk) as compared with midgestation (14–24 wk). Subsequent analyses using quantitative PCR and immunolocalization approaches validated a portion of these results. Many of the differentially expressed genes are known in other contexts to be involved in differentiation, motility, transcription, immunity, angiogenesis, extracellular matrix dissolution, or lipid metabolism. One sixth were nonannotated or encoded hypothetical proteins. Modeling based on structural homology revealed potential functions for 31 of these proteins. These data provide a reference set for understanding the molecular components of the dialogue taking place between maternal and fetal cells in the basal plate as well as for future comparisons of alterations in this region that occur in obstetric complications.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. G. Holtan, D. J. Creedon, P. Haluska, and S. N. Markovic Cancer and Pregnancy: Parallels in Growth, Invasion, and Immune Modulation and Implications for Cancer Therapeutic Agents Mayo Clin. Proc., November 1, 2009; 84(11): 985 - 1000. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				V. D. Winn, M. Gormley, A. C. Paquet, K. Kjaer-Sorensen, A. Kramer, K. K. Rumer, R. Haimov-Kochman, R.-F. Yeh, M. T. Overgaard, A. Varki, et al. Severe Preeclampsia-Related Changes in Gene Expression at the Maternal-Fetal Interface Include Sialic Acid-Binding Immunoglobulin-Like Lectin-6 and Pappalysin-2 Endocrinology, January 1, 2009; 150(1): 452 - 462. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. M. Mikheev, T. Nabekura, A. Kaddoumi, T. K. Bammler, R. Govindarajan, M. F. Hebert, and J. D. Unadkat Profiling Gene Expression in Human Placentae of Different Gestational Ages: An OPRU* Network and UW SCOR Study Reproductive Sciences, November 1, 2008; 15(9): 866 - 877. [Abstract] [PDF]

				R. E. Everts, P. Chavatte-Palmer, A. Razzak, I. Hue, C. A. Green, R. Oliveira, X. Vignon, S. L. Rodriguez-Zas, X. C. Tian, X. Yang, et al. Aberrant gene expression patterns in placentomes are associated with phenotypically normal and abnormal cattle cloned by somatic cell nuclear transfer Physiol Genomics, October 8, 2008; 33(1): 65 - 77. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]