Assessment of Krüpel-Like Factor 6 in Human extravillous Trophoblast cells

NEGRETTI D; CRUZ DEL PUERTO M; KOURDOVA L; PANZETTA DUTARI G; MIRANDA A; FLORES MARTIN J; GENTI RAIMONDI S

Córdoba

Congreso; LII Reunión Anual. Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Bioquímica y Biología Molecular (SAIB); 2016

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Bioquímica y Biología Molecular (SAIB)

Trophoblast cell differentiation into migratory extravillous trophoblasts (EVT) is critical for human placentation and embryonic development. KLF6 is a zinc-finger transcription factor that has a cellular and signal dependent tumor suppressor activity. klf6 knockout mice die in-utero with a phenotype including impaired placental development, however its role in placenta is partially known. We have demonstrated that KLF6 is required for proper villous trophoblast differentiation and its expression is regulated by hypoxia. In order to evaluate whether it modulates EVT migration we performed wound-healing and western blot analysis in KLF6 silenced HTR8/SVneo cells (human first trimester trophoblasts with an EVT phenotype). Confluent cell monolayers, transfected with a KLF6-specific siRNA (siK) or control siRNA, were ?scratched? and cell migration and protein expression were assessed after 4 and 24h. Cell migration tends to be higher in siK cells compared to control, although difference was statistically non-significant. Protein expression levels of β-catenin, connexin-43, α5 and β1 integrin subunits remained essentially unmodified. Present results suggest that downregulation of KLF6 does not alter the EVT differentiation markers analyzed. Further studies are required to determine the possible role of KLF6 in EVT migration. Supported by FONCyT, CONICET, SECyT-UNC. *equal contribution