scholarly journals Human placental bed transcriptomic profiling reveals inflammatory activation of endothelial cells in preeclampsia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Brouwers ◽  
Judith Wienke ◽  
Michal Mokry ◽  
Peter GJ Nikkels ◽  
Tatjana E Vogelvang ◽  
...  

Rationale: Functional characteristics of endothelial cells (ECs) within the human placental bed are unknown and may provide insight into the adaptive biology of ECs in disorders of vascular remodelling like preeclampsia. Objective: To determine transcriptional profiles of human placental bed ECs and systemic biomarker profiles in women with normal pregnancy, and women with preeclampsia, a condition characterized by extensive EC dysfunction, poor development of spiral arteries underlying the placenta and long-term susceptibility to atherosclerosis and hypertension. Methods & results: We obtained biopsy samples from the uterine placental bed, of five women with preeclampsia with fetal growth restriction (FGR) due to impaired spiral artery development and four controls undergoing Caesarean section. CD31+CD146+ ECs were isolated and sorted by flow cytometry for RNA-sequencing using CEL-Seq2 protocol. Data were analyzed by unsupervised clustering, gene set enrichment (GSEA) and pathway analysis. 67 circulating biomarkers of EC function and inflammation were measured in 20 women with preeclampsia with FGR and 20 controls by multiplex immunoassay. Transcriptional profiling showed various differentially expressed genes (FDR<0.05) in placental bed ECs of preeclampsia patients, with enhanced activity of pathways associated with vasoconstriction, platelet activation and innate immunity. GSEA was suggestive of a VEGF- and PlGF deprived state of preeclampsia-derived ECs. Moreover, the transcriptomic profile was similar to that of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) treated with plasma from preeclampsia patients, pointing towards a central role for circulating factors in EC dysfunction. Unsupervised clustering of subjects by EC-related circulating factors identified distinct profiles for healthy pregnancy and preeclampsia, in particular for those women with low platelets and elevated liver enzymes, which was predominantly driven by sFLT-1, endoglin, PlGF, leptin, SAA-1 and sICAM-1. Conclusions: We revealed inflammatory activation of EC and a key role for systemic factors in EC dysfunction in women with preeclampsia associated with impaired spiral artery development.

2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 251-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gürkan Bal ◽  
Julian Kamhieh-Milz ◽  
Matthias Futschik ◽  
Thomas Häupl ◽  
Abdulgabar Salama ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-211
Author(s):  
Yuping Wang ◽  
Yang Gu ◽  
J. Steven Alexander ◽  
David F. Lewis

Increased neutrophil–endothelial binding and inflammatory responses are significant pathophysiological events in the maternal vascular system in preeclampsia, a hypertensive disorder in human pregnancy. Interleukin 6 (IL-6) and its soluble receptors (soluble IL-6R (sIL-6R) and soluble gp130 (sgp130)) are critical inflammatory mediators. During pregnancy, maternal IL-6 and sgp130 levels were increased, but sIL-6R levels were decreased, in women with preeclampsia compared to normotensive pregnant women. However, little is known about differences in IL-6, sIL-6R, and sgp130 production by neutrophils and endothelial cells between normal pregnancy and preeclampsia. To study this, we isolated neutrophils and cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) from normal and preeclamptic pregnancies. Production of IL-6, sIL-6R, and sgp130 was measured. The role of placental factor(s)-mediated neutrophil production of IL-6, sIL-6R, and sgp130 was also determined by pretreating neutrophils with placental conditioned medium generated from placental villous cultures. We found that IL-6 and sgp130 were mainly produced by endothelial cells, while sIL-6R was mainly produced by neutrophils. Endothelial cells from preeclampsia produced significantly more IL-6 and sgp130, and neutrophils from preeclampsia produced significantly less sIL-6R than normal pregnancy cells. Interestingly, production of IL-6, sIL-6R, and sgp130 were time-dependently increased when neutrophils and endothelial cells were co-cultured. We also found that neutrophils from normal pregnancies produced more IL-6, but less sIL-6R, after being primed by preeclamptic-placental conditioned medium. These results demonstrated that neutrophils and endothelial cells have different capacities in producing IL-6, sIL-6R, and sgp130 between normal pregnancy and preeclampsia. These results also provide evidence that the placenta plays a role in inducing neutrophil activation in preeclampsia.


2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (8) ◽  
pp. 1940-1945 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Shen ◽  
Zhenyu Diao ◽  
Hai-Xiang Sun ◽  
Gui-Jun Yan ◽  
Zhiqun Wang ◽  
...  

Preeclampsia (PE) is initiated by abnormal placentation in the early stages of pregnancy, followed by systemic activation of endothelial cells of the maternal small arterioles in the late second or third trimester (TM) of pregnancy. During normal pregnancy, placental cytotrophoblasts (CTBs) invade the maternal uterine wall and spiral arteries, whereas this process is interrupted in PE. However, it is not known how the malformed placenta triggers maternal endothelial crisis and the associated manifestations. Here, we have focused on the association of CD81 with PE. CD81, a member of the tetraspanin superfamily, plays significant roles in cell growth, adhesion, and motility. The function of CD81 in human placentation and its association with pregnancy complications are currently unknown. In the present study, we have demonstrated that CD81 was preferentially expressed in normal first TM placentas and progressively down-regulated with gestation advance. In patients with early-onset severe PE (sPE), CD81 expression was significantly up-regulated in syncytiotrophoblasts (STBs), CTBs and the cells in the villous core. In addition, high levels of CD81 were observed in the maternal sera of patients with sPE. Overexpressing CD81 in CTBs significantly decreased CTB invasion, and culturing primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in the presence of a high dose of exogenous CD81 resulted in interrupted angiogenesis and endothelial cell activation in vitro. Importantly, the phenotype of human PE was mimicked in the CD81-induced rat model.


1989 ◽  
Vol 62 (02) ◽  
pp. 699-703 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob J Aerts ◽  
Karin Gillis ◽  
Hans Pannekoek

SummaryIt has recently been shown that the fibrinolytic components plasminogen and tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) both bind to cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). After cleavage of t-PA by plasmin, “single-chain” t-PA (sct-PA) is converted into “two-chain” t-PA (tct-PA), which differs from the former in a number of respects. We compared binding of sct-PA and tct-PA to the surface of HUVEC. Removal of t-PA bound to HUVEC by a mild treatment with acid and a subsequent quantification of eluted t-PA both by activity- and immunoradiometric assays revealed that, at concentrations between 10 and 500 nM, HUVEC bind about 3-4 times more sct-PA than tct-PA. At these concentrations, both sct-PA and tct-PA remain active when bound to HUVEC. Mutual competition experiments showed that sct-PA and tct-PA can virtually fully inhibit binding of each other to HUVEC, but that an about twofold higher concentration of tct-PA is required to prevent halfmaximal binding of sct-PA than visa versa. These results demonstrate that sct-PA and tct-PA bind with different affinities to the same binding sites on HUVEC.


1989 ◽  
Vol 61 (01) ◽  
pp. 101-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonnie J Warn-Cramer ◽  
Fanny E Almus ◽  
Samuel I Rapaport

SummaryCultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) have been reported to produce extrinsic pathway inhibitor (EPI), the factor Xa-dependent inhibitor of factor VHa/tissue factor (TF). We examined the release of this inhibitor from HUVEC as a function of their growth state and in response to the induction of endothelial cell TF activity. HUVEC constitutively produced significant amounts of EPI at all stages of their growth in culture including the post-confluent state. Rate of release varied over a 3-fold range for primary cultures from 12 different batches of pooled umbilical cord cells. Constitutive EPI release was unaltered during a 6 hour period of induction of TF activity with thrombin or phorbol ester but slowed during longer incubation of the cells with phorbol ester. Whereas plasma contains two molecular weight forms of EPI, only the higher of these two molecular weight forms was demonstrable by Western analysis of HUVEC supernatants with 125I-factor Xa as the ligand.


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