GENE EXPRESSION PROFILE OF HUMAN PLACENTA FROM T. cruzi INFECTED MOTHERS

IRMA TORREJÓN ; TOMAS DUFFY; LONGHI SILVIA A; NATALIA JUIZ; ALCINETTE BUNYING; MARIANELA BURGOS; ANA TORRES; MIRIAM E SALVO ; SCHIJMAN AG

Buenos Aires

Congreso; REUNIÓN CONJUNTA DE SOCIEDADES DE BIOCIENCIAS-XXIX REUNIÓN ANUAL DE LA SOCIEDAD ARGENTINA DE PROTOZOOLOGÍA; 2017

Sociedad Argentina de Protozoologia

Background. More than one million women in fertile age are infectedwith Trypanosoma cruzi worldwide Anti-T.cruzi seropositivityin mothers has been associated with adverse pregnancy outcomebut there is still a knowledge gap regarding this effect.Our aim was to compare the gene expression profile of term placentalenvironment from T. cruzi seropositive (SP) and seronegative(SN) mothers.Methods. A RNA-Seq experiment was performed in 9 pools of 2different placental RNA samples each: 3 pools belonging to placentasfrom SN and 6 pools from SP. Each pool consisted of a binomialof a female/male newborn and a vaginal/caesarean delivery.Results. Only 42 genes showed a significant fold change betweenSP and SN groups. Among the down-regulated genes (fold change≤-1.5 and p-value=0.05) were KISS1 and CGB5. In the up-regulatedgenes group (fold change≥1.5 and p-value=0.05) were: KIF12,HLA-G, PRG2, TAC3, FN1 and ATXN3L. To identify pathways significantly associated with maternal T. cruzi infection, a gene-set association analysis was done implementing the GSAASeqGP software.The placental transcriptomic profile of infected mothers consisted ofan enrichment of immunological genes sets (inflammatory responseand lymphocytic activation were over-expressed) and numerousbiosynthetic processes were down-regulated.Conclusions. It is worth noting that several differentially expressedgenes in SP placentas (KISS1, CGB5, HLA-G, PRG2 and TAC3)code for proteins associated to preeclampsia and miscarriage. Thisis the first placental transcriptomics study in natural human infectionthat may contribute to the understanding the placental behaviour inmaternal T. cruzi infection. Our results suggest that although mostchildren are born uninfected, they are affected by maternal T.cruzichronic infection during pregnancy.