Identification of antibodies against HAI-1 and integrin alpha6beta4 as immunohistochemical markers of human villous cytotrophoblast.

Syncytiotrophoblast and invasive extravillous trophoblast arise from a common stem cell, namely villous cytotrophoblast, but have very different characteristics. The study of the differentiation process relies on the availability of suitable markers for these different cell types of developing placenta. In this work, we have produced monoclonal antibodies that are specific to human villous cytotrophoblast.