title: Gene expression profiling in a mouse model identifies fetal liver- and placenta-derived potential biomarkers for Down Syndrome screening.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  As a first step to identify novel potential biomarkers for prenatal Down Syndrome screening, we analyzed gene expression in embryos of wild type mice and the Down Syndrome model Ts1Cje. Since current Down Syndrome screening markers are derived from placenta and fetal liver, these tissues were chosen as target.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Placenta and fetal liver at 15.5 days gestation were analyzed by microarray profiling. We confirmed increased expression of genes located at the trisomic chromosomal region. Overall, between the two genotypes more differentially expressed genes were found in fetal liver than in placenta. Furthermore, the fetal liver data are in line with the hematological aberrations found in humans with Down Syndrome as well as Ts1Cje mice. Together, we found 25 targets that are predicted (by Gene Ontology, UniProt, or the Human Plasma Proteome project) to be detectable in human serum.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Fetal liver might harbor more promising targets for Down Syndrome screening studies. We expect these new targets will help focus further experimental studies on identifying and validating human maternal serum biomarkers for Down Syndrome screening.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Health Protection Research (GBO), National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands. Jeroen.Pennings@rivm.nl
authors.forename: Jeroen L A
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Pennings
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rodenburg
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Imholz
authors.forename: Maria P H
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Koster
authors.forename: Conny T M
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: van Oostrom
authors.forename: Timo M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Breit
authors.forename: Peter C J I
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Schielen
authors.forename: Annemieke
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: de Vries
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D008099:Liver / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010920:Placenta / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism; D011247:Pregnancy; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers