Deregulation of T Helper Cell Pathways in the Basal Plate of the Placenta is Associated with Preeclampsia

CAMPBELL-THOMPSON, MARTHA; JACKSON, JESSICA; RABAGLINO, MARIA BELEN

San Diego

Encuentro; 65th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society for Reproductive Investigation; 2018

Introduction: Defects in T helper cell regulation may play a role in the etiology ofpreeclampsia (PE). Immune function can be inferred through analysis oftranscriptomics and associated pathways. Normally, the maternal-fetal interface isdominated by T helper 2 cells, but PE has been associated with a tilt towardpredominance of T helper 1 cells in maternal blood. Thus, we hypothesized thatthe basal plate of placentas from preeclamptic patients would have deregulationof pathways associated with T helper cell development, when compared tocontrols (C).The purpose of this project is to determine deregulated KEGGpathways associated with T helper cell development and function in the placentasof preeclamptic patients and controls using gene expression analysis.Methods: Basal plate tissue was removed from term placentas of patients withPE (n=6) and C (n=4). After delivery, the basal plate was dissected from theplacenta and frozen in liquid nitrogen. RNA was later isolated and analyzed usingNanostring nCounter technology, which evaluated for 594 human immune andinflammation-related genes and 15 housekeeping genes. After datanormalization, differentially expressed genes (DEG; p