Immune Response Gene Profiles in the Term Placenta Depend Upon Maternal Muscle Mass
Open accessAbstract
Maternal thinness leads to metabolic challenges in the offspring, but it is unclear whether reduced maternal fat mass or muscle mass drives these metabolic changes. Recently, it has been shown that low maternal muscle mass--as measured by arm muscle area (AMA)--is associated with depressed nutrient transport to the fetus. To determine the role of maternal muscle mass on placental function, we analyzed the gene expression profiles of 30 human placentas over the range of AMA (25.2-90.8 cm(2)) from uncomplicated term pregnancies from the Southampton Women's Survey cohort. Eighteen percent of the ∼60 genes that were highly expressed in less muscular women were related to immune system processes and the interferon-γ (IFNG) signaling pathway in particular. Those transcripts related to the IFNG pathway included IRF1, IFI27, IFI30, and GBP6. Placentas from women with low muscularity are, perhaps, more sensitive to the effects of inflammatory cytokines than those from more muscular women.
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Standard definitions of inflammation do not fit findings in the placenta in non-infectious cases such as obesity and diabetes, because inflammatory pathways can be activated without classic infiltration of granulocytes.
“It is becoming increasing clear that standard definitions of inflammation do not fit the findings in the placenta in non-infectious cases, such as obesity and diabetes, for it is possible for inflammatory pathways to be activated without the classic infiltration of granulocytes (418).”
From Placental Origins of Chronic Disease (2016) · cites this paper as [418]
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- Authors
- O’Tierney, P. F., Lewis, R. M., McWeeney, S. K., Hanson, M. A., Inskip, H. M., Morgan, T. K., Barker, D. J., Bagby, G., Cooper, C., Godfrey, K. M., & Thornburg, K. L.
- Affiliations
- Southampton General Hospital (GB)
- Oregon Health & Science University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Thornburg, Kent L.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Reproductive Sciences
- Published
- 2012-10
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 1041-1056
- ISSN
- 1933-7191 (ISSN-L)
- 1933-7205
- PMC
- PMC4052206
- OpenAlex
- W2074177494
- Cited by
- 24
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 2.69
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Reproductive Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ePrints Soton (University of Southampton) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Oregon Health and Science University
- National Institute for Health and Care Research (NF-SI-0508-10082)
- British Heart Foundation
- Versus Arthritis
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (P01HL048546, HL048546)
- National Cancer Institute (R01CA138237, CA138237, P30CA069533)
- National Center for Research Resources (UL1RR024140)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD043488-08, K99HD062841, K12HD043488)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Obstetrics and Gynecology › Pregnancy and preeclampsia studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Birth, Development, and Health
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Reproductive System and Pregnancy
- Keywords
- arm muscle area, placental gene expression, immune response genes, inflammatory cytokines, IRF1, term pregnancy
- MeSH terms
- Arm, Female, Humans, Immunity, Interferon-gamma, Male, Membrane Proteins, Organ Size, Placenta, Pregnancy, Thinness, Cohort Studies, Signal Transduction, Muscle, Skeletal, Interferon Regulatory Factor-1, Oxidoreductases Acting on Sulfur Group Donors, Transcriptome
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