ABSTRACT
<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>BAFF, the B cell activation factor, is a member of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) ligand family that binds to BCMA, TACI, and BAFF-R. Previous studies have shown that members of the TNF family are detected in human placental trophoblast cells, but the expression patterns of BAFF involved in human decidua and the differential expression of BAFF between normal pregnancy and miscarriage are still incompletely documented or unknown. This study was designed to investigate the expression of BAFF and BAFF-R in the trophoblast and decidua of normal early pregnant women and recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) patients.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Forty-five patients with RSA and 45 normal pregnant women were included in this study. By reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), Western blotting and immunohistochemical experiments, we explored the expression of BAFF and BAFF-R in the maternal-fetal interface of normal early pregnant women and RSA patients.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Analysis by RT-PCR and Western blotting revealed that BAFF was detected in both trophoblast and decidua of all the samples, and the expression level was higher in the tissues of normal early pregnant women (P<0.05) than that of recurrent spontaneous abortion patients under the same gestational weeks. Messages for BAFF-R were absent. Immunohistochemical experiments showed that expression of BAFF was cell-specific which was localized to villous cytotrophoblast and syncytiotrophoblast cells in trophoblast and to stromal cells in decidua. Whereas BAFF was prominent on the trophoblast and decidua of normal early pregnant women, it was decreased in the tissues of RSA patients.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>BAFF might steer maternal leukocytes away from a harmful immune response and toward a favorable one and play a potentially vital role for successful pregnancy.</p>
Subject(s)
Female , Humans , Pregnancy , Abortion, Habitual , Metabolism , B-Cell Activating Factor , Genetics , Physiology , Decidua , Chemistry , Metabolism , Immunohistochemistry , Interleukin-10 , Genetics , RNA, Messenger , Th1 Cells , Allergy and Immunology , Th2 Cells , Allergy and Immunology , Trophoblasts , Chemistry , MetabolismABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1 alpha) on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in Tca8113 cells under hypoxia.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The expression of the mRNA of HIF-1 alpha and VEGF in Tca8113 cells was examined by RT-PCR technique at different culture times (1/2 h, 1 h, 3 h, 6 h, 12 h, 24 h) under normoxic and hypoxic conditions.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The expression of HIF-1 alpha under hypoxia showed the trend of increasing first and then decreasing, and was higher than that of the control (normoxic group) at 6h and 12 h (P < 0.05). The expression of VEGF under hypoxia was higher than that of the control group at 1/2 h, 1 h, 3 h, 12 h, 24 h (P < 0.05). The expression of hypoxia-induced VEGF mRNA increased with the increased expression of HIF-1 alpha mRNA in the cell lines tested at the initial stage of hypoxia. But no statistical significant association was observed between HIF-1 alpha and VEGF expression within 24 h under hypoxia (rs = 0.5750, P > .005).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The increased expression of VEGF in Tca8113 cells might be mediated by multiple factors, including HIF-1 alpha.</p>
Subject(s)
Humans , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell , Genetics , Metabolism , Cell Hypoxia , Genetics , Cell Line, Tumor , Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic , Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit , Genetics , Metabolism , RNA, Messenger , Genetics , Tongue Neoplasms , Genetics , Metabolism , Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A , Genetics , MetabolismABSTRACT
AIM: To investigate the expression of NKG2A,NKG2D and their ligands in pregnancy uterine micro-environment and to probe the function of NKG2A and NKG2D imbalance expression during the immunotolerance at the fetal-maternal boundary.METHODS: Decidual lymphocytes and peripheral lymphocytes were obtained from 30 women during 6-9 weeks of pregnancy who were undergoing selective termination.FACS technology was used to detect NK cells number and NKG2A,NKG2D expression.RT-PCR was used to investigate HLA-E and MICA mRNA in trophoblast tissue.RESULTS: Natural killer cells predominate,accounting for 70% of pregnancy endometrial lymphocytes.FACS results indicated that NKG2A was significantly increased in decidual NK cells as compared with that in peripheral NK cells,accounting for 97.86%?1.75% and 33.35%?10.92%.The difference between them in NKG2A expression was significant(P