Galectin-1 peripheral level increase during successful human pregnancy.

TIRADO-GONZÁLEZ, I; BARRIENTOS, G; ARCK, PC; KLAPP, BF; MINCHEVA-NILSSON, L; BLOIS, SM

Congreso; XI International Congress of Reproductive Immunology; 2010

Galectin-1 (gal-1) is a soluble protein mainly expressed at sites of immune privilege such as the eyes, testis and placenta. Galectin-1 has been suggested to play an important role in conferring feto-maternal tolerance through multiple mechanisms like the induction of tolerogenic dendritic cells. It has been described that gal-1 is highly expressed in the feto-maternal interface and it is synthesized initially by trophectoderm immediately before the establishment of blastocyst, suggesting an important role in the attachment of the embryo to the uterine epithelium. Objectives: to investigate the role of gal-1 in human pregnancy evaluating the circulating levels of gal-1 during normal and pathological pregnancies. Methods: For this study, we collected serum from non-pregnant women, first and second trimester and term normal pregnancies and spontaneous abortion patients. Tissue gal-1 expression was investigated by IHC and serum gal-1 levels by ELISA. Results: Serum from normal pregnancy (IR) showed a higher concentration of gal-1 compared with abortion (ABE) serum. Indeed, we could also show that non-pregnant women presented lower levels of gal-1 in comparison with first, second and term trimester, showing statistical differences in gal-1 levels. In addition, we observed higher intensity gal-1 expression in decidua, syncitiotrophoblast and EVT from normal pregnancy compared with abortion samples. Conclusions: Our results suggest that gal-1 expression at the maternal interface is necessary for success and maintenance of human pregnancy. Decreased levels of gal-1 during spontaneous abortion could emerge as a predictive marker for pregnancy loss.