Similar Datasets
Project description:Multinucleated syncytiotrophoblasts (STBs), which are in direct contact with maternal blood, constitute the maternal-fetal interface critical for nutrient allocation, hormone production and immunological modulation during pregnancy. However, the genetic and epigenetic regulatory mechanisms governing trophoblast syncytialization remain largely elusive. We delineate that endogenous retroviruses (ERVs), which have been exapted as regulatory sequences for specific functional adaptations in placenta, profoundly rewire transcriptional program of trophoblast syncytialization. Here, we first determined dynamic bivalent ERV-derived enhancers with dual occupancy of H3K9me3 and H3K27ac in human trophoblast stem cells (hTSCs), which emerge as cell specific regulators of gene expression with markedly resolved H3K9me3 during differentiation towards STBs. Of note, bivalent enhancers derived from the Simiiformes-specific MER50 transposons were linked to a cluster of STB-specific genes. Importantly, depletions of MER50 elements adjacent to several STB genes, including MFSD2A, TNFAIP2 and RAI14, significantly attenuated their expression concomitant to dysregulated syncytium formation. Together, we propose that ERV-derived enhancers, MER50 specifically, fine-tune the transcriptional program accounting for human trophoblast syncytialization, which sheds light on novel epigenetic regulatory mechanisms underlying placental development.
2023-02-03 | GSE209976 | GEO
Project description:Multinucleated syncytiotrophoblasts (STBs), which are in direct contact with maternal blood, constitute the maternal-fetal interface critical for nutrient allocation, hormone production and immunological modulation during pregnancy. However, the genetic and epigenetic regulatory mechanisms governing trophoblast syncytialization remain largely elusive. We delineate that endogenous retroviruses (ERVs), which have been exapted as regulatory sequences for specific functional adaptations in placenta, profoundly rewire transcriptional program of trophoblast syncytialization. Here, we first determined dynamic bivalent ERV-derived enhancers with dual occupancy of H3K9me3 and H3K27ac in human trophoblast stem cells (hTSCs), which emerge as cell specific regulators of gene expression with markedly resolved H3K9me3 during differentiation towards STBs. Of note, bivalent enhancers derived from the Simiiformes-specific MER50 transposons were linked to a cluster of STB-specific genes. Importantly, depletions of MER50 elements adjacent to several STB genes, including MFSD2A, TNFAIP2 and RAI14, significantly attenuated their expression concomitant to dysregulated syncytium formation. Together, we propose that ERV-derived enhancers, MER50 specifically, fine-tune the transcriptional program accounting for human trophoblast syncytialization, which sheds light on novel epigenetic regulatory mechanisms underlying placental development.
2023-02-03 | GSE209975 | GEO
Project description:Endogenous retrovirus MER50-derived enhancers confer the transcriptional regulation of human trophoblast syncytialization
| PRJNA863249 | ENA
Project description:Endogenous retrovirus MER50-derived enhancers confer the transcriptional regulation of human trophoblast syncytialization [ChIP-Seq]
| PRJNA863257 | ENA
Project description:Endogenous retrovirus MER50-derived enhancers confer the transcriptional regulation of human trophoblast syncytialization [RNA-Seq]
| PRJNA863256 | ENA
Project description:Proper placental development relies on tightly regulated trophoblast differentiation and interaction with maternal cells. Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) play an integral role in modulating cell fusion events in the trophoblast cells of the developing placenta. Syncytin-1 (ERVW-1) and its receptor, solute-linked carrier family A member 5 (SLC1A5/ASCT2), promote fusion of cytotrophoblast (CTB) cells to generate the multi-nucleated syncytiotrophoblast (STB) layer which is in direct contact with maternal blood. Another HERV-derived protein known as Suppressyn (ERVH48-1/SUPYN) is implicated in anti-fusogenic events as it shares the common receptor with ERVW-1. Here, we explore primary tissue and publicly available datasets to determine the distribution of ERVW-1, ERVH48-1 and SLC1A5 expression at the maternal-fetal interface. While SLC1A5 is broadly expressed in placental and decidual cell types, ERVW-1 and ERVH48-1 are confined to trophoblast cell types. ERVH48-1 displays higher expression levels in CTB and extravillous trophoblast, than in STB, while ERVW-1 is generally highest in STB. We have demonstrated through gene targeting studies that suppressyn has the ability to prevent ERVW-1-induced fusion events in co-culture models of trophoblast cell/maternal endometrial cell interactions. These findings suggest that differential HERV expression is vital to control fusion and anti-fusogenic events in the placenta and consequently, any imbalance or dysregulation in HERV expression may contribute to adverse pregnancy outcomes.
| S-EPMC8508417 | biostudies-literature
Project description:A successful pregnancy is critically dependent upon proper placental development and function. During human placentation, villous cytotrophoblast (CTB) progenitors differentiate to form syncytiotrophoblasts (SynTBs), which provide the exchange surface between the mother and fetus and secrete hormones to ensure proper progression of pregnancy. However, epigenetic mechanisms that regulate SynTB differentiation from CTB progenitors are incompletely understood. Here, we show that lysine-specific demethylase 1 (LSD1; also known as KDM1A), a histone demethylase, is essential to this process. LSD1 is expressed both in CTB progenitors and differentiated SynTBs in first-trimester placental villi; accordingly, expression in SynTBs is maintained throughout gestation. Impairment of LSD1 function in trophoblast progenitors inhibits induction of endogenous retrovirally encoded genes SYNCYTIN1/endogenous retrovirus group W member 1, envelope (ERVW1) and SYNCYTIN2/endogenous retrovirus group FRD member 1, envelope (ERVFRD1), encoding fusogenic proteins critical to human trophoblast syncytialization. Loss of LSD1 also impairs induction of chorionic gonadotropin α (CGA) and chorionic gonadotropin β (CGB) genes, which encode α and β subunits of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG), a hormone essential to modulate maternal physiology during pregnancy. Mechanistic analyses at the endogenous ERVW1, CGA, and CGB loci revealed a regulatory axis in which LSD1 induces demethylation of repressive histone H3 lysine 9 dimethylation (H3K9Me2) and interacts with transcription factor GATA2 to promote RNA polymerase II (RNA-POL-II) recruitment and activate gene transcription. Our study reveals a novel LSD1-GATA2 axis, which regulates human trophoblast syncytialization.
| S-EPMC6873176 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
2023-01-01 | GSE209541 | GEO
Project description:The multinucleated syncytial trophoblast, which forms the outermost layer of the placenta and serves multiple functions, is differentiated from and maintained by cytotrophoblast cell fusion. Deficiencies in syncytial trophoblast differentiation or maintenance likely contribute to intrauterine growth restriction and pre-eclampsia, two common gestational diseases. The cellular and molecular mechanisms governing trophoblast syncytialization are poorly understood. We report here that the proprotein convertase furin is highly expressed in syncytial trophoblast in the first trimester human placentas, and expression of furin in the syncytiotrophoblast is significantly lower in the placentas from pre-eclamptic patients as compared with their gestational age-matched control placentas. Using multiple experimental models including induced fusion of choriocarcinoma BeWo cells and spontaneous fusion of primary cultured cytotrophoblast cells or placental explants, we demonstrate that cytotrophoblast cell fusion and syncytialization are accompanied by furin expression. Furin-specific siRNAs or inhibitors inhibit cell fusion in BeWo cells, as well as trophoblast syncytialization in human placental explants. Furthermore, type 1 IGF receptor (IGF1R) is indicated in this study as a substrate of furin, and processing of IGF1R by furin is an essential mechanism for syncytialization. Finally, using lentivirus-mediated RNAi targeting to mouse trophectoderm, we demonstrate that furin function is required for the development of syncytiotrophoblast structure in the labyrinth layer, as well as for normal embryonic development.
| S-EPMC3641329 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The serine protease inhibitor alpha1-antitrypsin (A1AT) may possess protective functions of impaired organs in a manner independent of its protease inhibitor activity. A1AT expression has been shown to fluctuate in patients with pregnancy-induced hypertension, which suggests that A1AT may play a role in the syncytialization of villous trophoblasts. A1AT expression was knocked down in primary trophoblasts. RNA was extracted from these cells and subjected to RNA-sequencing analysis to determine the levels of expression of markers of syncytialization and inflammation. In addition, A1AT protein was localized in trophoblastic cells in placental tissues. Knockdown of A1AT upregulated the expression of FOSL1 and markers of syncytialization, as well as cell fusion, whereas overexpression of A1AT had the opposite effects. FOSL1 overexpression stimulated syncytialization, similar to the effects of A1AT knock down. Inhibitors of p38MAPK and JNK reduce the expression of inflammatory factors, whereas a p38MAPK inhibitor suppressed FOSL1 expression. Collectively, these findings indicated A1AT may negatively regulate inflammatory responses by controlling the activation of p38MAPK and JNK, and that p38MAPK mediates trophoblast syncytialization by altering FOSL1 expression. Therefore, a dysfunction in A1AT could be responsible for abnormal placental formation and pregnancy-associated disorders.
| S-EPMC8879717 | biostudies-literature