Rapid clearance of mRNA for PLAC1 gene in maternal blood after delivery.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate (1) whether the presence of mRNA for the specific trophoblast gene PLAC1 in maternal whole blood is pregnancy-specific, and (2) whether delivery would result in the clearance of mRNA from maternal blood.


METHODS
Sixteen pregnant women at term (41 completed weeks' gestation) were enrolled in the study. Blood samples were obtained before the onset of labor and 24 h after delivery. Eight healthy donors (3 males and 5 non-pregnant women) were used as controls. Total RNA was extracted by means of ABI Prism 6100. A quantitative evaluation was obtained by means of real-time PCR. Wilcoxon test was used to evaluate differences between time intervals.


RESULTS
Median concentrations of PLAC1 mRNA relative to the standardization curve (see below) were 44 (2.9-675) ng/ml and 0.48 (0.05-10.7) ng/ml respectively for pre- and post-delivery samples (p value <0.001). Male and non-pregnant female controls did not show any signal of cDNA amplification.


CONCLUSIONS
mRNA transcripts from a placenta-expressed specific gene are detectable in maternal blood and rapidly disappear after delivery. Such an mRNA provides a gender-independent marker for non-invasive prenatal gene expression profiling, and can open new perspectives to monitor those conditions associated to trophoblast damage as well as preeclampsia.
Concu
Manuela
M
Institute of Histology and Human Embryology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Banzola
Irina
I
Farina
Antonio
A
Sekizawa
Akihiko
A
Rizzo
Nicola
N
Marini
Marina
M
Caramelli
Elisabetta
E
Carinci
Paolo
P
D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D049590:Postpartum Period / Q000097:blood*; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000097:blood*; D011257:Pregnancy Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000097:blood*
C415583:PLAC1 protein, human; D011257:Pregnancy Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger