Sexually dimorphic DNA methylation and gene expression patterns in human first trimester placenta.

Background: Fetal sex and placental development impact pregnancy outcomes and fetal-maternal health, but the critical timepoint of placenta establishment in first trimester is understudied in human pregnancies.

Methods: Pregnant subjects were recruited in late first trimester (weeks 10-14) at time of chorionic villus sampling, a prenatal diagnostic test. Leftover placenta tissue was collected and stored until birth outcomes were known, then DNA and RNA were isolated from singleton, normal karyotype pregnancies resulting in live births.

A systematic review of genome-wide analyses of methylation changes associated with assisted reproductive technologies in various tissues.

Importance: Because analytic technologies improve, increasing amounts of data on methylation differences between assisted reproductive technology (ART) and unassisted conceptions are available. However, various studies use different tissue types and different populations in their analyses, making data comparison and integration difficult.

Objective: To compare and integrate data on genome-wide analyses of methylation differences due to ART, allowing exposure of overarching themes.

Infertility and treatments used have minimal effects on first-trimester placental DNA methylation and gene expression.

Objective: To determine whether deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) methylation alterations exist in the first-trimester human placenta between conceptions using fertility treatments and those that do not and, if so, whether they are the result of underlying infertility or fertility treatments. We also assessed whether significant alterations led to changes in gene expression.

Design: We compared DNA methylation of the first-trimester placenta from singleton pregnancies that resulted in live births from unassisted, in vitro fertilization (IVF), and non-IVF fertility treatment (NIFT) conceptions using the Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip array.

Sex at the interface: the origin and impact of sex differences in the developing human placenta.

The fetal placenta is a source of hormones and immune factors that play a vital role in maintaining pregnancy and facilitating fetal growth. Cells in this extraembryonic compartment match the chromosomal sex of the embryo itself. Sex differences have been observed in common gestational pathologies, highlighting the importance of maternal immune tolerance to the fetal compartment.

Circulating trophoblast cell clusters for early detection of placenta accreta spectrum disorders.

Placenta accreta spectrum (PAS) is a high-risk obstetrical condition associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Current clinical screening modalities for PAS are not always conclusive. Here, we report a nanostructure-embedded microchip that efficiently enriches both single and clustered circulating trophoblasts (cTBs) from maternal blood for detecting PAS.

Sexually Dimorphic Crosstalk at the Maternal-Fetal Interface.

Context: Crosstalk through receptor ligand interactions at the maternal-fetal interface is impacted by fetal sex. This affects placentation in the first trimester and differences in outcomes. Sexually dimorphic signaling at early stages of placentation are not defined.

Differential gene expression during placentation in pregnancies conceived with different fertility treatments compared with spontaneous pregnancies.

Objective: To identify differences in the transcriptomic profiles during placentation from pregnancies conceived spontaneously vs. those with infertility using non-in vitro fertilization (IVF) fertility treatment (NIFT) or IVF.

Design: Cohort study.

Genetics and Epigenetics of Infertility and Treatments on Outcomes.

Context: Infertility affects 10% of the reproductive-age population. Even the most successful treatments such as assisted reproductive technologies still result in failed implantation. In addition, adverse pregnancy outcomes associated with infertility have been attributed to these fertility treatments owing to the presumed epigenetic modifications of in vitro fertilization and in vitro embryo development.

Differences in First-Trimester Maternal Metabolomic Profiles in Pregnancies Conceived From Fertility Treatments.

Context: Maternal metabolic status reflects underlying physiological changes in the maternal-placental-fetal unit that may help identify contributors to adverse pregnancy outcomes associated with infertility and treatments used.

Objective: To determine if maternal metabolomic profiles differ between spontaneous pregnancies and pregnancies conceived with fertility treatments that may explain the differences in pregnancy outcomes.

Design: Metabolon metabolomic analysis and ELISAs for 17-β-estradiol and progesterone were performed during the late first trimester of pregnancy.

Sex differences in the late first trimester human placenta transcriptome.

Background: Development of the placenta during the late first trimester is critical to ensure normal growth and development of the fetus. Developmental differences in this window such as sex-specific variation are implicated in later placental disease states, yet gene expression at this time is poorly understood.

Methods: RNA-sequencing was performed to characterize the transcriptome of 39 first trimester human placentas using chorionic villi following genetic testing (17 females, 22 males).

Up-regulation of microRNA-202-3p in first trimester placenta of pregnancies destined to develop severe preeclampsia, a pilot study.

MicroRNA (miRNA) expression has not been studied during placentation in pregnancies that develop preeclampsia, when it likely manifests. In this pilot study, miRNA expression in late first trimester placenta from four pregnancies that developed severe preeclampsia matched to controls using the Affymetrix GeneChip® miRNA 3.0 Array identified 9 miRNAs differentially expressed, with miR-202-3p the most significantly overexpressed in severe preeclampsia.

GEMM-I riboswitches from Geobacter sense the bacterial second messenger cyclic AMP-GMP.

Cyclic dinucleotides are an expanding class of signaling molecules that control many aspects of bacterial physiology. A synthase for cyclic AMP-GMP (cAG, also referenced as 3'-5', 3'-5' cGAMP) called DncV is associated with hyperinfectivity of Vibrio cholerae but has not been found in many bacteria, raising questions about the prevalence and function of cAG signaling. We have discovered that the environmental bacterium Geobacter sulfurreducens produces cAG and uses a subset of GEMM-I class riboswitches (GEMM-Ib, Genes for the Environment, Membranes, and Motility) as specific receptors for cAG.