Abstract:
Background Early missed abortion, a frequent complication during pregnancy, refers to the cessation of embryo development leading to demise. While the etiology is not yet fully understood, research suggests that abnormalities in gene expression may an essential role.
Objective To detect the expression of FMR1, HLA-G, IFNG, IL-10 gene mRNA and protein in villi tissues of patients with early missed abortion and normal induced abortion, and analyze the correlation between these indicators and early missed abortion.
Methods For this study, a cohort of 26 cases diagnosed with embryonic arrest at the Eighth Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital from July 2022 to March 2023 were meticulously selected to constitute the experimental group. Concurrently, a group of 25 women experiencing normal early pregnancy were chosen as a comparative control group. The innovative real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR techniques were applied to quantitatively assess the relative gene expression of FMR1, HLA-G, IFNG, and IL-10 genes within the chorionic tissue samples from both groups. Furthermore, sophisticated immunohistochemistry and protein immunoblotting methods were used to evaluate the protein levels of these targeted genes.
Results There was no significant difference in age and basic data between the two groups (P>0.05). FMR1, HLA-G, IFNG and IL-10 proteins were all expressed in the cytoplasm of extravillous trophoblast cells, and FMRP and IFNG were also found in the inner embryonic ectomesoderm of villi. There was no significant difference in the expression of FMR1, HLA-G, and IL-10 mRNA in villi tissues between the experimental group and the control group (P>0.05). The expression of IFNG mRNA in the experimental group was significantly lower than that in the control group (MIQR: 0.560.28-1.00 vs 1.110.59-2.29, P=0.011). In protein expression, the FMRP (MIQR: 0.320.22-0.47 vs 0.640.52-0.81, P=0.001), HLA-G (MIQR: 0.350.21-0.52 vs 0.750.66-1.37, P<0.001), IL-10 (0.34 ± 0.17 vs 0.67 ± 0.09, P<0.001) were lower in the experimental group than those in the control group, while IFNG (MIQR: 0.74 ± 0.12 vs 0.33 ± 0.12, P<0.001) was higher than those in the control group, with significant difference. FMRP, HLA-G, IL-10 protein expression decreased, IFNG protein expression increased, which might be associated with the occurrence of early missed abortion (P < 0.05). Correlation analysis showed that FMRP was negatively correlated with IFNG and positively correlated with IL-10 protein; HLA-G was positively correlated with IL-10 and negatively correlated with IFNG protein; IFNG was negatively correlated with IL-10, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05).
Conclusion Abnormal expression of FMR1, HLA-G, IL-10, and IFNG genes in villous tissue may lead to abnormal embryonic development and early missed abortion.