Specialized cell types of trophoblast cells form the placenta in which each cell type has particular properties of proliferation and invasion. The placenta sustains the growth of the fetus throughout pregnancy and any aberrant trophoblast differentiation or invasion potentially affects the future health of the child and adult. Recently, the field of epigenetics has been applied to understand di...

STUDY QUESTION Can the chemokine CXCL6 affect trophoblast cell migration and invasion in human first-trimester placenta? SUMMARY ANSWER Chemokine CXCL6 inhibits trophoblast cell migration and invasion by suppressing matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 activity in human first-trimester placenta. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Several chemokines including CXCL8, CXCL12, CXCL14, CXCL16, CX3CL1, CCL14 and ...

BACKGROUND Antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) are a family of auto-antibodies that are associated with an increased risk of recurrent miscarriage, intrauterine growth restriction and preterm birth. The placenta is a major target of aPL and it is likely that these antibodies promote pregnancy morbidity by affecting trophoblast function. Numerous studies have investigated the effect of aPL on trop...

1. Abi Nahed R., Elkhoury Mikhael M., Reynaud D. et al., 2022. Role of NLRP7 in normal and malignant trophoblast cells. Biomedicines 10, 252, https://doi.org/10.3390/biomed... CrossRef Google Scholar

BACKGROUND Pregnant women acutely infected with human parvovirus B19 (B19) may transmit the virus to the developing fetus. The mechanism whereby the virus interacts with the placenta is unknown. It is known that globoside receptor is required for successful infection of the target cells, which are the highly undifferentiated, actively dividing colony and burst-form units of the erythroid series...

BACKGROUND Abnormal trophoblast differentiation and function is the basis of many placenta-based pregnancy disorders, including pre-eclampsia and fetal growth restriction. PPARgamma, a ligand-activated nuclear receptor, plays essential roles in placental development; null murine embryos die at midgestation due to abnormalities in all placental layers, in particular, small labyrinth and expanded...

In pregnancy tissues, oncofetal fibronectin (onfFN) has been localized specifically to the extracellular matrix (ECM) surrounding extravillous anchoring trophoblasts of the placental-uterine junction and chorion. When isolated from first or third trimester placentas, human cytotrophoblasts in culture secrete and deposit onfFN in the ECM. In addition, onfFN synthesis is significantly up-regulate...

Women with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) are at risk of recurrent pregnancy loss and obstetrical disorders, such as preeclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). Antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) directly target the placenta by binding beta2-glycoprotein I (β2GPI) expressed on the trophoblast. We recently demonstrated in human first trimester trophoblast cells that anti-β2GPI antib...

Although the trophoblast is necessary for the growth, viability and patterning of the mammalian embryo, understanding of its patterning role is still rudimentary. Expression of the transcription factor Ets2 is restricted to the trophoblast in early postimplantation stages and Ets2 mutants have been previously shown to have defects in trophoblast development. We show here that Ets2 is necessary ...

To assess in vivo the postulated participation of urokinase-type (u-PA) and tissue-type (t-PA) plasminogen activators in processes involving tissue remodeling and cell migration, we have studied the cellular distribution of u-PA and t-PA mRNAs during mouse oogenesis and embryo implantation. By in situ hybridizations, we detected t-PA mRNA in oocytes and u-PA mRNA in granulosa and thecal cells f...