Project description:During the invasive phase of implantation, trophoblasts and maternal decidual stromal cells secrete products that regulate trophoblast differentiation and migration into the maternal endometrium. Paracrine interactions between the extravillous trophoblast and the maternal decidua are important for successful embryonic implantation, including establishing the placental vasculature, anchoring the placenta to the uterine wall, and promoting immuno-acceptance of the fetal allograph. Global cross-talk between the trophoblast and the decidua has not been elucidated to date, and the current study used a functional genomics approach to investigate these paracrine interactions. Human endometrial stromal cells were decidualized with progesterone and were further treated with conditioned media (CM) from human trophoblasts (TCM) or, as a control, with conditioned media (CCM) from non-decidualized stromal cells for 0, 3 and 12 hr. Total RNA was isolated and processed for analysis on whole genome, high density oligonucleotide arrays, containing 54,600 genes. Our data demonstrate a significant induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, as well as angiogenic/static factors in decidualized endometrial stromal cells in response to trophoblast-secreted products. The data suggest that the trophoblast acts to alter the local immune environment of the decidua to facilitate the process of implantation and assure an enriched cytokine/chemokine environment, while limiting mitotic activity of the stromal cells during the invasive phase of implantation.
Project description:During the invasive phase of implantation, trophoblasts and maternal decidual stromal cells secrete products that regulate trophoblast differentiation and migration into the maternal endometrium. Paracrine interactions between the extravillous trophoblast and the maternal decidua are important for successful embryonic implantation, including establishing the placental vasculature, anchoring the placenta to the uterine wall, and promoting immuno-acceptance of the fetal allograph. Global cross-talk between the trophoblast and the decidua has not been elucidated to date, and the current study used a functional genomics approach to investigate these paracrine interactions. Our data demonstrate a significant induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, as well as angiogenic/static factors in decidualized endometrial stromal cells in response to trophoblast-secreted products. The data suggest that the trophoblast acts to alter the local immune environment of the decidua to facilitate the process of implantation and assure an enriched cytokine/chemokine environment, while limiting mitotic activity of the stromal cells during the invasive phase of implantation. Keywords: Gene expression arrays in human stromal cells
Project description:Organismal function is, to a great extent, determined by interactions among their fundamental building blocks, the cells. In?this work, we studied the cell-cell interactome of fetal placental trophoblast cells and maternal endometrial stromal cells, using single-cell transcriptomics. The placental interface mediates the interaction between two semiallogenic individuals, the mother and the fetus, and is thus the epitome of cell interactions. To study these, we inferred the cell-cell interactome? by assessing the gene expression of receptor-ligand pairs across cell types. Moreover, we find that the expression of G-protein coupled receptors is highly cell-type?specific, implying that ligand-receptor profiles could be a reliable tool for cell type identification. Furthermore, we find that uterine decidual cells represent a cell-cell interaction hub with a relatively large?number of potential incoming and outgoing signals. Decidual cells differentiate from their precursors, the endometrial stromal fibroblasts, during uterine preparation for pregnancy. We show that decidualization (even in vitro) enhances the ability ?to communicate with the fetus, as most of the receptors and ligands up-regulated during decidualization have their counterpart expressed in trophoblast cells. Among the signals transmitted, growth factors and immune signals dominate, suggesting a delicate balance of enhancing and suppressive signals. Finally, this study provides a rich resource of gene ?expression profiles of term intravillous and extravillous trophoblasts, including the transcriptome of the multinucleated syncytiotrophoblast.
Project description:Maternal-embryonic interactions play a critical role in successful pregnancy, with particular emphasis on the decidual-trophoblast interaction, which have been long recognized to exert a paracrine influence through the trophoblast cells on the progression of decidualization and the function of decidual cells. Despite this knowledge, the full extent of the embryo's impact on the decidua remains largely unexplored. To investigate the influence of embryonic signals on the maternal decidua, we utilized Prl3d1Cre/Cre mice mated with R26DTA/DTA mice, resulting in the generation of Prl3d1Cre/+, R26DTA/+ conceptus. In these conceptuses, the primary trophoblast giant cells (pTGCs) were selectively ablated by diphtheria toxin A (DTA). The pTGCs are the key embryonic cells that directly interact with the maternal decidua. Following the ablation of pTGCs, we observed impaired decidualization, as indicated by altered expression of genes related to decidualization or decidual function, such as Prl8a2, Wnt4, Bmp2, Alpl, and Hsd11b2, as well as a reduction in the interferon response in the decidua on day 6.5 of early pregnancy. Additionally, we found significant downregulation of numerous lipid-related biological effects in both deciduae on day 6.5 and day 8 of early pregnancy. These findings shed light on the complex interactions between the maternal and embryonic components during early pregnancy and underscore the importance of embryonic-derived influences on decidual lipid metabolism.
Project description:Pausing of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) during early transcription, mediated by the negative elongation factor (NELF) complex, allows cells to coordinate and appropriately respond to signals by modulating the rate of transcriptional pause release. Promoter proximal enrichment of Pol II occurs at uterine genes relevant to reproductive biology; thus, we hypothesized that pausing might impact endometrial response by coordinating hormonal signals involved in establishing and maintaining pregnancy.We deleted the NELF-B subunit in themouse uterus using PgrCre (NELF-B UtcKO).Resulting females were infertile.Uterine response to the initial decidual stimulus of NELF-B UtcKOwas similar to that of control mice; however, subsequent full decidual response was not observed. Cultured NELF-B UtcKO stromal cells exhibited perturbances in extracellular matrix components and also expressed elevated levels of the decidual prolactin Prl8a2, as well as altered levels of transcripts encoding enzymes involved in prostaglandin synthesis and metabolism. Because endometrial stromal cell decidualization is also critical to human reproductive health and fertility, we used small interfering to suppressNELF-B or NELF-E subunits in cultured human endometrial stromal cells, which inhibited decidualization, as reflected by the impaired induction of decidual markers PRL and IGFBP1. Overall, our study indicatesNELF-mediated pausing is essential to coordinate endometrial responses and that disruption impairs uterine decidual development during pregnancy.
Project description:Among animal species, cell types vary greatly in terms of number and kind. The broad range of number of cell types among species suggests that cell type origination is a significant source of evolutionary novelty. The molecular mechanisms giving rise to novel cell types, however, are poorly understood. Here we show that a novel cell type of eutherians mammals, the decidual stromal cell (DSC), evolved by rewiring an ancestral cellular stress response. We isolated the precursor cell type of DSCs, endometrial stromal fibroblasts (ESFs), from the opossum Monodelphis domestica. We show that, in opossum ESF, the majority of decidual core regulatory genes respond to decidualizing signals, but do not regulate decidual effector genes. Rather, in opossum ESF, decidual transcription factors function in apoptotic and oxidative stress response. We propose that the rewiring of cellular stress responses could be a general mechanism for the evolution of novel cell types.
Project description:A Toxoplasma gondii infection during pregnancy can result in spontaneous abortion, preterm labor, or congenital fetal defects. The decidual immune system plays a critical role in regulating the immune micro-environment and in the induction of immune tolerance. To better understand the factors that mediate the decidual immune response associated with the T. gondii infection, a large-scale study employing TMT proteomics was conducted to characterize the differential decidual immune proteomes from infected and uninfected human decidual immune cells samples. The decidual immune cells from 105 human voluntary abortion tissues were purified, and of the 5510 unique proteins identified, 181 proteins were found to be differentially abundant (>1.2-fold cutoff, P<0.05) in the T. gondii-infected decidual immune cells. 11 proteins of 181 differentially expressed proteins associated with trophoblast invasion, placental development, intrauterine fetal growth, and immune tolerance were verified using a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. This systematic research identified a broad range of immune factors in human decidual immune cells, shedding a new insight into the decidual immune molecular mechanism for abnormal pregnancy outcomes associated with T. gondii infection.
Project description:In this study, we characterize the fusion protein produced by the EPC1-PHF1 translocation in Low Grade Endometrial Stromal Sarcoma (LG-ESS) and Ossifying FibroMyxoid Tumors (OFMT). We express the fusion protein and necessary controls in K562 Cells. The fusion protein assembles a mega-complex harboring both NuA4/TIP60 and PRC2 subunits and enzymatic activities and leads to mislocalization of chromatin marks in the genome, linked to aberrant gene expression.
Project description:Embryos secrete preimplantation factor (PIF), a peptide present in maternal circulation during viable pregnancy. We compared downstream synthetic PIF effect on gene expression in non-pregnant Human Endometrial Stromal Cell (HESC) and First Trimester Decidual cell (FTDC) culture to mimic the maternal intrauterine environment during embryo implantation and trophoblast invasion.
Project description:In this study, we characterize the fusion protein produced by the EPC1-PHF1 translocation in Low Grade Endometrial Stromal Sarcoma (LG-ESS) and Ossifying FibroMyxoid Tumors (OFMT). We express the fusion protein and necessary controls in K562 Cells. The fusion protein assembles a mega-complex harboring both NuA4/TIP60 and PRC2 subunits and enzymatic activities and leads to mislocalization of chromatin marks in the genome, linked to aberrant gene expression.