Granulysin-mediated apoptosis of trophoblasts in blighted ovum and missed abortion
Abstract
Granulysin (GNLY) is a cytotoxic molecule mostly present in decidual natural killer (NK) cells. Blighted ovum (BO) and missed abortion (MA) represent the early pathological pregnancies with hindered development of the embryoblast or a dead embryo. We investigated the GNLY-mediated apoptotic mechanism potentially responsible for delayed termination of pregnancy. We performed immunohistological and immunofluorescence labeling of decidual tissues (GNLY, Apaf-1, NF-κB). NKG2A expression was analyzed by flow cytometry and GNLY mRNA by RT-qPCR. The GNLY labeling intensity (H score) was lower in the nuclei of trophoblast cells in BO and MA. GNLY gene levels were inversely detected in BO and MA. A decreased decidual NK cell percentage was found in MA. NK cells from pathological pregnancies expressed lower NKG2A levels. The highest frequency of Apaf-1 was found in trophoblast cells of MA. NF-kB was highly expressed in decidual cells of BO. The reduced activation of GNLY-mediated killing might be implicated in the slower rejection of trophoblast cells in BO and MA. A decreased authentic decidual NK cell number could be responsible for low cytotoxicity against trophoblast cells in MA. In BO, trophoblast cells have a higher survival potent...Continue Reading
References
Autophagy induced by HIF1α overexpression supports trophoblast invasion by supplying cellular energy
Citations
Related Concepts
Related Feeds
Apoptosis
Apoptosis is a specific process that leads to programmed cell death through the activation of an evolutionary conserved intracellular pathway leading to pathognomic cellular changes distinct from cellular necrosis
Cancer Biology: Molecular Imaging
Molecular imaging enables noninvasive imaging of key molecules that are crucial to tumor biology. Discover the latest research in molecular imaging in cancer biology in this feed.