First Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany.
J Histochem Cytochem. 2010 Aug;58(8):751-7. doi: 10.1369/jhc.2010.956185. Epub 2010 May 10.
Inhibins and activins are important regulators of the female reproductive system. A novel inhibin subunit, named betaC, has been identified and demonstrated to be expressed in several human tissues. We demonstrate here that inhibin betaC is expressed in human placenta. Expression of the inhibin betaC subunit was demonstrated at the protein level by means of immunohistochemical evaluation and at the transcriptional level by an inhibin betaC-specific RT-PCR analysis. Expression of inhibin betaC was detected in the human chorionic carcinoma cell lines JEG and BeWo. Although the precise role of this novel inhibin subunit in human placenta development and homeostasis is unclear, analogies with other inhibin subunits and the strong expression of betaC in normal human trophoblast cells and chorionic carcinoma cells suggest that betaC may be involved in autocrine/paracrine signaling pathways, angiogenesis, decidualization, and tissue remodeling under normal and malignant conditions. Additionally, JEG and BeWo express betaC and, therefore, can be used as a cell culture model for further functional analysis of this subunit in the human placenta.
抑制素和激活素是女性生殖系统的重要调节因子。一种新的抑制素亚基，命名为βC，已被鉴定并证明在几种人体组织中表达。我们在这里证明抑制素βC 在人胎盘组织中表达。通过免疫组织化学评估在蛋白质水平上证明了抑制素βC 亚基的表达，并通过抑制素βC 特异性 RT-PCR 分析在转录水平上证明了其表达。在人绒毛膜癌细胞系 JEG 和 BeWo 中检测到抑制素βC 的表达。虽然这种新型抑制素亚基在人胎盘发育和稳态中的确切作用尚不清楚，但与其他抑制素亚基的相似性以及βC 在正常人类滋养层细胞和绒毛膜癌细胞中的强烈表达表明，βC 可能参与自分泌/旁分泌信号通路、血管生成、蜕膜化和组织重塑在正常和恶性条件下。此外，JEG 和 BeWo 表达βC，因此可以用作细胞培养模型，进一步分析该亚基在人胎盘组织中的功能。
