title: Expression of E-cadherin and its repressor snail in placental tissue of normal, preeclamptic and HELLP pregnancies.
abstract: Incomplete invasion of extravillous trophoblasts (EVT) is thought to be associated with complications of pregnancy. Snail, a zinc-finger transcription factor represses the transcription of the cell adhesion molecule E-cadherin. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of E-cadherin and Snail in placental tissue with preeclampsia or HELLP. Placental tissues were obtained from five patients with HELLP syndrome, seven patients with preeclampsia and seven patients after a normal term birth and analysed for Snail and E-cadherin immunoreactivity with specific monoclonal antibodies. Immunohistochemical staining of the placental tissue was analysed using an immunoreactivity score for the evaluation of staining intensity. In preeclamptic EVT, Snail immunoreactivity showed a significant 1.7-fold increase, accompanied by a significant 1.9-fold reduction of E-cadherin immunoreactivity. A 1.7-fold increase of Snail and in parallel a 1.3-fold reduction of E-cadherin was observed in EVT of HELLP placentas although without statistical significance. Loss of E-cadherin can be observed during epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a key process in normal development and trophoblast differentiation. Snail represses the transcription of E-cadherin triggering a complete EMT. Results obtained in this study showed changes of Snail and E-cadherin immunoreactivity in preeclamptic placentas that could be accompanied with an altered EMT in trophoblasts.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pathology, Technical University of Munich, Trogerstrasse 18, 81675 Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Kareen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Blechschmidt
authors.forename: Ioannis
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mylonas
authors.forename: Doris
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mayr
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schiessl
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schulze
authors.forename: Karl-Friedrich
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: Udo
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Jeschke
mesh_terms: D015820:Cadherins / Q000032:analysis*; D003656:Decidua / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D017359:HELLP Syndrome / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D010920:Placenta / Q000737:chemistry*; D011247:Pregnancy; D000071250:Snail Family Transcription Factors; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000032:analysis*; D014327:Trophoblasts / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins; D000071250:Snail Family Transcription Factors; D014157:Transcription Factors