The relationship between the VEGF/sVEGFR-1 ratio and threatened abortion

Association of serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor and placental growth factor in early threatened abortion and premature delivery: A case‑control study

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and placental growth factor (PlGF) serve key roles in the regulation of vascular development, revascularization and vasopermeability in the endometrium, decidua and trophoblasts. Furthermore, both VEGF and PlGF are modulators of embryonic vascular development. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the serum levels of VEGF and PlGF in female patients with early threatened abortion (TA) who experienced preterm delivery. The present case-control study included 130 pregnant patients with or without TA that were admitted to The Maternal and Childcare Hospital of Nantong University from January 2019 to January 2022. Patients were divided into two groups: i) Group A, which included 55 patients diagnosed with TA with slight vaginal bleeding and closed cervical internal os within the first 6-12 weeks of pregnancy; and ii) group B, which included 75 patients with healthy asymptomatic pregnancy. Blood samples were obtained from all patients and VEGF and PlGF levels were examined prior to treatment, and the chi-squared, Student's t-test and two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni's post hoc analysis were used to analyze statistical differences between the two patient groups. Results of the present study demonstrated that patients with TA had significantly lower levels of VEGF and PlGF, compared with the controls. In patients with or without TA, the levels of serum PlGF in the preterm delivery group were significantly decreased compared with patients that did not experience preterm delivery. However, there was no significant difference in the levels of VEGF between patients with or without preterm delivery. In addition, lower levels of PlGF, compared with those in patients without TA, may be associated with an increased risk of preterm delivery in patients without early TA.

Polymorphic Variants of Genes Encoding Angiogenesis-Related Factors in Infertile Women with Recurrent Implantation Failure

Recurrent implantation failure (RIF) is a global health issue affecting a significant number of infertile women who undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles. Extensive vasculogenesis and angiogenesis occur in both maternal and fetal placental tissues, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and fibroblast growth factor (FGF) family molecules and their receptors are potent angiogenic mediators in the placenta. Five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the genes encoding angiogenesis-related factors were selected and genotyped in 247 women who had undergone the ART procedure and 120 healthy controls. Genotyping was conducted by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). A variant of the kinase insertion domain receptor (KDR) gene (rs2071559) was associated with an increased risk of infertility after adjusting for age and BMI (OR = 0.64; 95% CI: 0.45-0.91, p = 0.013 in a log-additive model). Vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) rs699947 was associated with an increased risk of recurrent implantation failures under a dominant (OR = 2.34; 95% CI: 1.11-4.94, p_adj. = 0.022) and a log-additive model (OR = 0.65; 95% CI 0.43-0.99, p_adj. = 0.038). Variants of the KDR gene (rs1870377, rs2071559) in the whole group were in linkage equilibrium (D' = 0.25, r² = 0.025). Gene-gene interaction analysis showed the strongest interactions between the KDR gene SNPs rs2071559-rs1870377 (p = 0.004) and KDR rs1870377-VEGFA rs699947 (p = 0.030). Our study revealed that the KDR gene rs2071559 variant may be associated with infertility and rs699947 VEGFA with an increased risk of recurrent implantation failures in infertile ART treated Polish women.

Placenta-Specific miR-125b Overexpression Leads to Increased Rates of Pregnancy Loss in Mice

Pregnancy loss (PL) is one of the common complications that women can experience during pregnancy, with an occurrence rate of 1 to 5%. The potential causes of pregnancy loss are unclear, with no effective treatment modalities being available. It has been previously reported that the level of miR-125b was significantly increased in placentas of PL patients. However, the role of miR-125b in the development of PL still remains unknown. In the current study, an miR-125b placenta-specific over-expression model was constructed by lentiviral transfecting zona-free mouse embryos followed by embryo transfer. On gestation day 15, it was observed that the placenta was significantly smaller in the miR-125b placenta-specific overexpression group than the control group. Additionally, the abortion rate of the miR-125b placenta-specific overexpression group was markedly higher than in the control group. The blood vessel diameter was larger in the miR-125b-overexpressing specific placenta. In addition, miR-125b-overexpressing HTR8 and JEG3 cell lines were also generated to analyze the migration and invasion ability of trophoblasts. The results showed that miR-125b overexpression significantly suppressed the migration and invasion ability of HTR8 and JEG3 cells. Overall, our results demonstrated that miR-125b can affect embryo implantation through modulating placenta angiogenesis and trophoblast cell invasion capacity that can lead to PL.

The benefits of higher LMR for early threatened abortion: A retrospective cohort study

Problem

To investigate the relation of inflammation-related parameters and pregnancy outcome in women with the early threatened abortion.

Method of study

630 women with early threatened abortion were divided into two groups based on the pregnancy outcome. All of them had the blood routine examination before treating. The differences between two groups were analyzed by the Chi-squared test, Student T test, Mann-Whitney U test, Binary Logistic Regression, Marginal Structural Model and Threshold effect analysis.

Results

We found that there is no significant difference in the pregnancy outcome for NLR (OR:0.92, CI95%:0.72, 1.17) and PLR (OR:1.00, CI%:0.99, 1.01). However, a difference had a statistical significance in the pregnancy outcome when LMR less than 2.19 (OR:0.39, CI95%:0.19,0.82).

Conclusions

This study suggested that higher LMR was related to the lower risk of miscarriage in the women with early threatened abortion in a way.

Proteolytic cleavage, trafficking, and functions of nuclear receptor tyrosine kinases

Intracellular localization has been reported for over three-quarters of receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) families in response to environmental stimuli. Internalized RTK may bind to non-canonical substrates and affect various cellular processes. Many of the intracellular RTKs exist as fragmented forms that are generated by γ-secretase cleavage of the full-length receptor, shedding, alternative splicing, or alternative translation initiation. Soluble RTK fragments are stabilized and intracellularly transported into subcellular compartments, such as the nucleus, by binding to chaperone or transcription factors, while membrane-bound RTKs (full-length or truncated) are transported from the plasma membrane to the ER through the well-established Rab- or clathrin adaptor protein-coated vesicle retrograde trafficking pathways. Subsequent nuclear transport of membrane-bound RTK may occur via two pathways, INFS or INTERNET, with the former characterized by release of receptors from the ER into the cytosol and the latter characterized by release of membrane-bound receptor from the ER into the nucleoplasm through the inner nuclear membrane. Although most non-canonical intracellular RTK signaling is related to transcriptional regulation, there may be other functions that have yet to be discovered. In this review, we summarize the proteolytic processing, intracellular trafficking and nuclear functions of RTKs, and discuss how they promote cancer progression, and their clinical implications.

Heat-Shock Proteins 70 Induce Pro-Inflammatory Maturation Program in Decidual CD1a(+) Dendritic Cells

PROBLEM

The aim of the study was to assess possible binding of a mixture of constitutive Hsc70 and inducible Hsp70 forms (HSP70) to Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 and CD91 receptors on decidual CD1a(+) dendritic cells (DCs) and their influence on DCs maturation status.

METHOD OF STUDY

Immunohistology and immunofluorescence of paraffin-embedded first trimetester and term pregnancy decidua were performed together with flow cytometry detection of antigens in DCs after stimulation of decidual mononuclear cells with HSP70.

RESULTS

Hsc70 and Hsp70 labeling revealed intracellular and nuclear staining in trophoblast cells. The numbers of Hsc70(+) and Hsp70(+) cells of decidual tissue were higher in early pregnancy decidua than in decidua at term. HSP70 binds CD91 and TLR4 receptors on CD1a(+) DCs and increased the expression of CD83, HLA-DR, CD80, and CD86, but decreased CC receptor (CCR) 5. HSP70 increased CC ligand (CCL) 3 and CCL22. HSP70 in the concentration of 1 μg/mL increased the percentage of interferon-γ and interleukin (IL)-15-expressing cells over the cells expressing IL-4.

CONCLUSION

HSP70 binds CD91 and TLR4 on decidual CD1a(+) DCs, causes their maturation, and increases IL-15 in the context of Th1 cytokine/chemokine domination, which could support immune response harmful for ongoing pregnancy.