Gene expression patterns in human placenta

doi:10.1073/pnas.0508035103

Gene expression patterns in human placenta

Departments of *Biochemistry,
^†Pathology, and
^‡Gynecology and Obstetrics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305

Edited by R. Michael Roberts, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, and approved January 17, 2006 (received for review September 19, 2005)

Abstract

The placenta is the principal metabolic, respiratory, excretory, and endocrine organ for the first 9 months of fetal life. Its role in fetal and maternal physiology is remarkably diverse. Because of the central role that the placenta has in fetal and maternal physiology and development, the possibility that variation in placental gene expression patterns might be linked to important abnormalities in maternal or fetal health, or even variations in later life, warrants investigation. As an initial step, we used DNA microarrays to analyze gene expression patterns in 72 samples of amnion, chorion, umbilical cord, and sections of villus parenchyma from 19 human placentas from successful full-term pregnancies. The umbilical cord, chorion, amnion, and villus parenchyma samples were readily distinguished by differences in their global gene-expression patterns, many of which seemed to be related to physiology and histology. Differentially expressed genes have roles that include placental trophoblast secretion, signal transduction, metabolism, immune regulation, cell adhesion, and structure. We found interindividual differences in expression patterns in villus parenchyma and systematic differences between the maternal, fetal, and intermediate layers. A group of genes that was expressed in both the maternal and fetal villus parenchyma sections of placenta included genes that may be associated with preeclampsia. We identified sets of genes whose expression in placenta was significantly correlated with the sex of the fetus. This study provides a rich and diverse picture of the molecular variation in the placenta from healthy pregnancies.

Footnotes

^§To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: pbrown{at}pmgm2.stanford.edu
Author contributions: R.S., J.L.Z., M.L.D., and P.O.B. designed research and analyzed data; R.S. performed research; M.L.D. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; and R.S. and P.O.B. wrote the paper.
Conflict of interest statement: No conflicts declared.
This paper was submitted directly (Track II) to the PNAS office.
Data deposition: The microarray data have been deposited in the Stanford MicroArray Database, http://smd.stanford.edu (accession no. GSE4421).
Abbreviations:

Abbreviations:

PE,

preeclampsia;

IGF,

insulin-like growth factor;

PIGF,

placental growth factor;

HIF,

hypoxia-inducible factor;

Pn,

patient n;

CCK,

Cholecystokinin;

NKB,

neurokinin B;

Flt1,

Fms-like tyrosine kinase 1;

FSTL3,

follistatin-like 3.
Freely available online through the PNAS open access option.