Project description:Background - Prepregnancy overweight and obesity promote deleterious health impacts on both mothers during pregnancy and the offspring. Significant changes in the maternal peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) gene expression due to obesity are well-known. However, during pregnancy the impact of overweight on immune cell gene expression and its association with maternal and infant outcomes is not well explored. Methods – Blood samples were collected from healthy normal weight (NW, BMI 18.5-24.9) or overweight (OW, BMI 25-29.9) 2nd parity pregnant women at 12, 24 and 36 weeks of pregnancy. PBMCs were isolated from the blood and subjected to mRNA sequencing. Maternal and infant microbiota were analyzed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Integrative multi-omics data analysis was performed to evaluate the association of gene expression with maternal diet, gut microbiota, milk composition, and infant gut microbiota. Results - Gene expression analysis revealed that 453 genes were differentially expressed in the OW women compared to NW women at 12 weeks of pregnancy, out of which 354 were upregulated and 99 were downregulated. Several up-regulated genes in the OW group were enriched in inflammatory, chemokine-mediated signaling and regulation of interleukin-8 production-related pathways. At 36 weeks of pregnancy healthy eating index score was positively associated with several genes that include, DTD1, ELOC, GALNT8, ITGA6-AS1, KRT17P2, NPW, POT1-AS1 and RPL26. In addition, at 36 weeks of pregnancy, genes involved in adipocyte functions, such as NG2 and SMTNL1, were negatively correlated to human milk 2’FL and total fucosylated oligosaccharides content collected at 1 month postnatally. Furthermore, infant Akkermansia was positively associated with maternal PBMC anti-inflammatory genes that include CPS1 and RAB7B, at 12 and 36 weeks of pregnancy. Conclusions – These findings suggest that prepregnancy overweight impacts the immune cell gene expression profile, particularly at 12 weeks of pregnancy. Further, deciphering the complex association of PBMC’s gene expression levels with maternal gut microbiome and milk composition and infant gut microbiome may aid in developing strategies to mitigate obesity-mediated effects.
Project description:Intra-amniotic infection, the invasion of microbes into the amniotic cavity resulting in an inflammatory process, is a clinical condition that can lead to adverse pregnancy outcomes for the mother and fetus as well as severe long-term neonatal morbidities. Despite much research focused on the consequences of intra-amniotic infection, there is still little knowledge about the functional roles of innate immune cells that respond to invading microbes. In the current study, we performed RNA sequencing of sorted neutrophils and monocytes/macrophages from amniotic fluid from women with intra-amniotic infection to determine the transcriptomic differences between these innate immune cells. Further, we sought to identify specific transcriptomic pathways that were significantly altered by the maternal or fetal origin of amniotic fluid neutrophils and monocytes, the presence of a severe fetal inflammatory response, and pregnancy outcome (i.e. preterm or term delivery). We showed that significant transcriptomic differences exist between amniotic fluid neutrophils and monocytes/macrophages from women with intra-amniotic infection that are indicative of the distinct roles these cells play. We also found that amniotic fluid monocytes/macrophages of fetal origin display impaired ability to clear out microbes invading the amniotic cavity compared to those of maternal origin. Notably, we demonstrate that the transcriptomic changes in amniotic fluid monocytes/macrophages are heavily associated with the severity of the fetal inflammatory response, suggesting that the trafficking of fetal neutrophils throughout the umbilical cord is partially modulated by monocytes/macrophages in the amniotic cavity. Finally, we show that amniotic fluid neutrophils and monocytes/macrophages from preterm deliveries display enhanced transcriptomic activity compared to those from term deliveries, highlighting the protective role of these innate immune cells in this vulnerable period. Collectively, these findings demonstrate the underlying complexity of local innate immune responses in women with intra-amniotic infection, and provide new insights into the functions of amniotic fluid neutrophils and monocytes in the amniotic cavity.
Project description:Amniotic fluid is a complex biological medium that offers mechanical protection and nutrition to the fetus, and also plays a key role in normal fetal growth, organogenesis, and potentially fetal programming. Amniotic fluid is also critically involved in longitudinally shaping the in utero milieu during pregnancy. Yet, the molecular mechanism of action by which amniotic fluid regulates fetal development is ill-defined partly due to an incomplete understanding of the evolving composition of the amniotic fluid proteome. Prior research consisting of cross-sectional studies suggests that the amniotic fluid proteome changes as pregnancy advances, yet longitudinal alterations have not been confirmed because repeated sampling is prohibitive in humans. We therefore performed serial amniocenteses at early, mid, and late gestational time-points within the same pregnancies in a rhesus macaque model. Longitudinally-collected rhesus amniotic fluid samples were paired with gestational-age matched cross-sectional human samples. Utilizing LC-MS/MS isobaric labeling quantitative proteomics, we demonstrate considerable cross-species similarity between the amniotic fluid proteomes and large scale gestational-age associated changes in protein content throughout pregnancy. This is the first study to establish a reference proteomic profile across gestation. This non-human primate model holds promise as a translational platform for amniotic fluid studies and to identify adversely affected pregnancies.
Project description:Fetal wounds repair by regeneration rather than wound healing and the environment is dominated by amniotic fluid. We are looking at early transcriptional regulation of keratinocytes cultured in amniotic fluid in vitro. Keratinocytes were isolated and expanded to passage three after which they were starved in DMEM for 12h then cultured for 24h in human amniotic fluid (50%), fcs (50%) or DMEM alone for another 24h. N=2, pooled replicates per CEL-file.
Project description:The objective of this study was to identify the tissue expression patterns and biological pathways enriched in term amniotic fluid cell-free fetal RNA by comparing functional genomic analyses of term and second-trimester amniotic fluid supernatants. There were 2,871 significantly differentially regulated genes. In term amniotic fluid, tissue expression analysis showed enrichment of salivary gland, tracheal, and renal transcripts as compared with brain and embryonic neural cells in the second trimester. Functional analysis of genes upregulated at term revealed pathways that were highly specific for postnatal adaptation such as immune function, digestion, respiration, carbohydrate metabolism, and adipogenesis. Inflammation and prostaglandin synthesis, two key processes involved in normal labor, were also activated in term amniotic fluid. This was a prospective whole genome microarray study comparing eight amniotic fluid samples collected from eight women at term who underwent prelabor cesarean delivery and eight second-trimester amniotic fluid samples from routine amniocenteses. A functional annotation tool was used to compare tissue expression patterns in term and second-trimester samples. Pathways analysis software identified physiologic systems, molecular and cellular functions, and upstream regulators that were significantly overrepresented in term amniotic fluid.
Project description:The objective of this study was to identify the tissue expression patterns and biological pathways enriched in term amniotic fluid cell-free fetal RNA by comparing functional genomic analyses of term and second-trimester amniotic fluid supernatants. There were 2,871 significantly differentially regulated genes. In term amniotic fluid, tissue expression analysis showed enrichment of salivary gland, tracheal, and renal transcripts as compared with brain and embryonic neural cells in the second trimester. Functional analysis of genes upregulated at term revealed pathways that were highly specific for postnatal adaptation such as immune function, digestion, respiration, carbohydrate metabolism, and adipogenesis. Inflammation and prostaglandin synthesis, two key processes involved in normal labor, were also activated in term amniotic fluid.