Fetal-maternal interface: a chronicle of allogeneic coexistence

Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and Small-for-Gestational-Age: An Insight into the Placental Molecular Biomarkers

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and small-for-gestational-age (SGA) are two metabolic-related diseases that could affect women during pregnancy. Considering that the chorionic villi (CVs) are crucial structures for the feto-maternal exchange, the alterations in their conformation have been linked to an imbalanced metabolic environment of placenta. In this study, a multidisciplinary approach has been carried out to describe the changes occurring in the placental CVs of GDM and SGA patients. The results revealed higher levels of superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD-1) and catalase (CAT), especially in the GDM placentae, which could be correlated with the hyperglycemic environment characteristic of this pathology. Furthermore, spectroscopy and histologic analyses revealed that both pathologies modify the placental lipid composition altering its structure. However, SGA induces lipid peroxidation and reduces collagen deposition within the CVs. Since the endocannabinoid system (ECS) is involved in placentation and different metabolic activities, the cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1) and transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V member 1 (TRPV-1) were analyzed. No changes have been observed either at general or specific levels in the CVs comparing control and pathological samples, suggesting the non-involvement of the cannabinoid system in these two pathologies.

Interaction of Pregnancy-Specific Glycoprotein 1 With Integrin Α5β1 Is a Modulator of Extravillous Trophoblast Functions

Human pregnancy-specific glycoproteins (PSGs) serve immunomodulatory and pro-angiogenic functions during pregnancy and are mainly expressed by syncytiotrophoblast cells. While PSG mRNA expression in extravillous trophoblasts (EVTs) was reported, the proteins were not previously detected. By immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting, we show that PSGs are expressed by invasive EVTs and co-localize with integrin 5. In addition, we determined that native and recombinant PSG1, the most highly expressed member of the family, binds to 51 and induces the formation of focal adhesion structures resulting in adhesion of primary EVTs and EVT-like cell lines under 21% oxygen and 1% oxygen conditions. Furthermore, we found that PSG1 can simultaneously bind to heparan sulfate in the extracellular matrix and to 51 on the cell membrane. Wound healing assays and single-cell movement tracking showed that immobilized PSG1 enhances EVT migration. Although PSG1 did not affect EVT invasion in the in vitro assays employed, we found that the serum PSG1 concentration is lower in African-American women diagnosed with early-onset and late-onset preeclampsia, a pregnancy pathology characterized by shallow trophoblast invasion, than in their respective healthy controls only when the fetus was a male; therefore, the reduced expression of this molecule should be considered in the context of preeclampsia as a potential therapy.

Frequency of fetal-maternal microchimerism: an analysis of the HLA-DRB1 gene in cord blood and maternal sample pairs

PURPOSE

We aimed to investigate the frequency of fetal-maternal microchimerism among cord blood (CB) from a Korean population.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We previously developed a nested polymerase chain reaction-single-strand conformation polymorphism method for microchimerism detection that is highly sensitive (0.01-0.001%) and specific. We used this method to investigate the frequency of fetal-maternal HLA-DRB1 microchimerism among 153 maternal and 152 CB samples.

RESULTS

Among the tested pairs, 41.1% exhibited at least one direction of microchimerism, 32.0% of the mothers possessed fetal microchimerism, and 23.4% of the newborns possessed maternal microchimerism. The overall microchimerism frequency was 28.2%.

CONCLUSIONS

We hypothesize that the different microchimerism frequencies among population and methods are due to differences in detection specificities and subject characteristics. This study provides basic data on fetal-maternal microchimerism that may be useful for future studies on autoimmune disorder and virtual phenotyping in transplantation.

Umbilical cord blood for cardiovascular cell therapy: from promise to fact

Endothelial recovery and cell replacement are therapeutic challenges for cardiovascular medicine. Initially employed in the treatment of blood malignancies due to its high concentration of hematological precursors, umbilical cord blood (UCB) is now a non-controversial and accepted source of both hematopoietic and non-hematopoietic progenitors for a variety of emerging cell therapies in clinical trials. Here, we review the current therapeutic potential of UCB, focusing in recent evidence demonstrating the ability of UCB-derived mesenchymal stem cells to differentiate into the endothelial lineage and to develop new vasculature in vivo.