Placental gene expression of inflammatory markers and growth factors – a case control study of obese and normal weight women

Marianne Allbrand; Maria Bjorkqvist; Kerstin Nilsson; Ingrid Ostlund; Jan Aman

doi:10.1515/jpm-2013-0343

Article

Placental gene expression of inflammatory markers and growth factors – a case control study of obese and normal weight women

Marianne Allbrand , Maria Bjorkqvist , Kerstin Nilsson , Ingrid Ostlund and Jan Aman

Published/Copyright: July 11, 2014

Published by

Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Submit Manuscript Author Information Explore this Subject

From the journal Journal of Perinatal Medicine Volume 43 Issue 2

Abstract

Objective: To survey the placental gene expression of inflammatory markers and growth factors in non-smoking obese women with an uncomplicated pregnancy without associated morbidity and delivery at term compared with normal weight women.

Methods: Placental tissue samples from 32 obese women (body mass index, BMI≥35.0 kg/m²) were compared with samples from 94 normal weight women (BMI 18.5–25.0 kg/m²) matched for age (±1 year), gestational age (±3 days), parity and mode of delivery. Semi-quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to analyse toll receptor-2 and -4, interleukin-6 and -8, tumour necrosis factor-α, leptin, adiponectin, insulin-like growth factor-1 and -2, hepatocyte growth factor, hepatocyte growth factor receptor and insulin receptor.

Results: There was no significant difference in gene expression in placental tissue samples from obese and normal weight women.

Conclusion: We found no difference in the occurrence of inflammatory marker and growth factor mRNA levels in placental tissue samples from a large group of obese women without associated morbidity and with healthy infants compared to a closely matched control group of healthy normal weight women. Compared with the previous studies, this anomalous finding may be explained by the absence of associated morbidity in the obese women in our study.

Keywords: Obesity; pregnancy

Corresponding author: Marianne Allbrand, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Örebro University Hospital, S-701 85 Örebro, Sweden, Tel.: + 46 196021268, Fax: + 46 196021080, E-mail: marianne.allbrand@orebroll.se; and Department of Health and Clinical Science, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden

Acknowledgments

We thank the midwives at the Örebro County Council maternity care centres and the midwives and staff at the Obstetrical Department at Örebro University Hospital for informing the women about the study and collecting the placental tissue samples. We also thank Lena Jansson, Anita Koskela and Mikael Ivarsson at the Clinical Research Centre and Anders Magnuson at the Epidemiological and Statistical Department at Örebro University Hospital for their help and support. This work received grants from the Foundation for Medical Research, Örebro University Hospital.

References

[1] Akram SK, Akram M, Bhutta ZA, Soder O. Human placental IGF-I and IGF-II expression: correlating maternal and infant anthropometric variables and micronutrients at birth in the Pakistani population. Acta Paediatr. 2008;97:1443–8.10.1111/j.1651-2227.2008.00930.xSearch in Google Scholar

[2] Catalano PM, Ehrenberg HM. The short- and long-term implications of maternal obesity on the mother and her offspring. Br J Obstet Gynaecol. 2006;113:1126–33.10.1111/j.1471-0528.2006.00989.xSearch in Google Scholar

[3] Catalano PM, Presley L, Minium J, Hauguel-de Mouzon S. Fetuses of obese mothers develop insulin resistance in utero. Diabetes Care. 2009;32:1076–80.10.2337/dc08-2077Search in Google Scholar

[4] Challier JC, Basu S, Bintein T, Minium J, Hotmire K, Catalano PM, et al. Obesity in pregnancy stimulates macrophage accumulation and inflammation in the placenta. Placenta. 2008;29:274–81.10.1016/j.placenta.2007.12.010Search in Google Scholar

[5] Chen J, Tan B, Karteris E, Zervou S, Digby J, Hillhouse EW, et al. Secretion of adiponectin by human placenta: differential modulation of adiponectin and its receptors by cytokines. Diabetologia. 2006;49:1292–302.10.1007/s00125-006-0194-7Search in Google Scholar

[6] Cseh K, Baranyi E, Melczer Z, Kaszas E, Palik E, Winkler G. Plasma adiponectin and pregnancy-induced insulin resistance. Diabetes Care. 2004;27:274–5.10.2337/diacare.27.1.274Search in Google Scholar

[7] Desoye G, Hauguel-de Mouzon S. The human placenta in gestational diabetes mellitus. The insulin and cytokine network. Diabetes Care. 2007;30:S120–6.10.2337/dc07-s203Search in Google Scholar

[8] Desoye G, Hartmann M, Jones CJ, Wolf HJ, Kohnen G, Kosanke G, et al. Location of insulin receptors in the placenta and its progenitor tissues. Microsc Res Tech. 1997;38:63–75.10.1002/(SICI)1097-0029(19970701/15)38:1/2<63::AID-JEMT8>3.0.CO;2-VSearch in Google Scholar

[9] Forbes K, Westwood M. Maternal growth factor regulation of human placental development and fetal growth. J Endocrinol. 2010;207:1–16.10.1677/JOE-10-0174Search in Google Scholar

[10] Grissa O, Yessoufou A, Mrisak I, Hichami A, Amoussou-Guenou D, Grissa A, et al. Growth factor concentrations and their placental mRNA expression are modulated in gestational diabetes mellitus: possible interactions with macrosomia. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2010;10:7.10.1186/1471-2393-10-7Search in Google Scholar

[11] Guelinckx I, Devlieger R, Beckers K, Vansant G. Maternal obesity: pregnancy complications, gestational weight gain and nutrition. Obes Rev. 2008;9:140–50.10.1111/j.1467-789X.2007.00464.xSearch in Google Scholar PubMed

[12] Hauguel-de Mouzon S, Lepercq J, Catalano P. The known and unknown of leptin in pregnancy. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2006;194:1537–45.10.1016/j.ajog.2005.06.064Search in Google Scholar PubMed

[13] Kauma S, Hayes N, Weatherford S. The differential expression of hepatocyte growth factor and met in human placenta. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1997;82:949–54.Search in Google Scholar

[14] Kern PA, Ranganathan S, Li C, Wood L, Ranganathan G. Adipose tissue tumor necrosis factor and interleukin-6 expression in human obesity and insulin resistance. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2001;280:E745–51.10.1152/ajpendo.2001.280.5.E745Search in Google Scholar PubMed

[15] Kirwan JP, Hauguel-De Mouzon S, Lepercq J, Challier JC, Huston-Presley L, Friedman JE, et al. TNF-alpha is a predictor of insulin resistance in human pregnancy. Diabetes. 2002;51:2207–13.10.2337/diabetes.51.7.2207Search in Google Scholar PubMed

[16] Livak KJ, Schmittgen TD. Analysis of relative gene expression data using real-time quantitative PCR and the 2(-Delta Delta C(T)) Method. Methods. 2001;25:402–8.10.1006/meth.2001.1262Search in Google Scholar PubMed

[17] O’Reilly JR, Reynolds RM. The risk of maternal obesity to the long-term health of the offspring. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2013;78:9–16.10.1111/cen.12055Search in Google Scholar PubMed

[18] Rasmussen KM, Catalano PM, Yaktine AL. New guidelines for weight gain during pregnancy: what obstetrician/gynecologists should know. Curr Opin Obstet Gynecol. 2009;21: 521–6.10.1097/GCO.0b013e328332d24eSearch in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central

[19] Riley JK, Nelson DM. Toll-like receptors in pregnancy disorders and placental dysfunction. Clin Rev Allergy Immunol. 2010;39:185–93.10.1007/s12016-009-8178-2Search in Google Scholar PubMed

[20] Roberts KA, Riley SC, Reynolds RM, Barr S, Evans M, Statham A, et al. Placental structure and inflammation in pregnancies associated with obesity. Placenta. 2011;32:247–54.10.1016/j.placenta.2010.12.023Search in Google Scholar PubMed

[21] SABioscience. RT2 Profiler PCR Array Data Analysis. QIAGEN [cited 13 Oct 2008]. Available from: http://www.sabiosciences.com/pcr/arrayanalysis.php.Search in Google Scholar

[22] Seely EW, Solomon CG. Insulin resistance and its potential role in pregnancy-induced hypertension. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2003;88:2393–8.10.1210/jc.2003-030241Search in Google Scholar PubMed

[23] Shi H, Kokoeva MV, Inouye K, Tzameli I, Yin H, Flier JS. TLR4 links innate immunity and fatty acid-induced insulin resistance. J Clin Invest. 2006;116:3015–25.10.1172/JCI28898Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central

[24] Street ME, Seghini P, Ziveri MA, Fieni S, Volta C, Neri TM, et al. Interleukin-6 and insulin-like growth factor system relationships and differences in the human placenta and fetus from the 35th week of gestation. Growth Horm IGF Res. 2006;16:365–72.10.1016/j.ghir.2006.09.007Search in Google Scholar PubMed

[25] Waters TP, Huston-Presley L, Catalano PM. Neonatal body composition according to the revised institute of medicine recommendations for maternal weight gain. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2012;97:3648–54.10.1210/jc.2012-1781Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central

[26] Wyatt SM, Kraus FT, Roh CR, Elchalal U, Nelson DM, Sadovsky Y. The correlation between sampling site and gene expression in the term human placenta. Placenta. 2005;26:372–9.10.1016/j.placenta.2004.07.003Search in Google Scholar PubMed

The authors stated that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this article.

Received: 2013-12-19

Accepted: 2014-6-11

Published Online: 2014-7-11

Published in Print: 2015-3-1

You are currently not able to access this content.

Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/jpm-2013-0343

Keywords for this article

Obesity; pregnancy