EA 2406 Histologie et pathologie moléculaire des tumeurs, Université Bordeaux Segalen, Bordeaux, France.
PLoS One. 2013;8(1):e54013. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0054013. Epub 2013 Jan 11.
Recent studies have shown that telomere length was significantly reduced in placentas collected at delivery from pregnancies complicated by intrauterine growth restriction secondary to placental insufficiency. Placental telomere length measurement during ongoing pregnancies complicated by intrauterine growth restriction has never been reported. This was the main objective of our study.
In our center, late chorionic villus samplings were performed between 18 and 37 weeks of amenorrhea in 24 subjects with severe intrauterine growth restriction (cases) and in 28 subjects with other indications for prenatal diagnosis (controls). Placental insufficiency was assessed by histo-pathological examination. Relative measurement of telomere length was carried out prospectively by quantitative Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization using fluorescent Peptide Nucleic Acid probes on interphase nuclei obtained from long-term cultured villi and with an automated epifluorescent microscope. A quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction technique was performed to confirm the quantitative Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization results. The number of copies of gene loci encoding the RNA template (hTERC) and the catalytic subunit (hTERT) of the enzyme complex telomerase were also estimated in these placentas by Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization.
Mean fluorescence intensity of telomere probes estimated by quantitative Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization was significantly less for cases compared to controls (p<0.001). This result indicated that mean telomere length was significantly reduced in placentas during pregnancies complicated by intrauterine growth restriction. Reduced telomere length was confirmed by the quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction technique. No copy number variation of the hTERC and hTERT loci was noticed for cases, or for controls.
This study clearly demonstrates a reduction of placental telomere length in ongoing pregnancies (from 18 to 37 weeks of amenorrhea) complicated by severe intrauterine growth restriction secondary to placental insufficiency.
最近的研究表明，在因胎盘功能不全导致的宫内生长受限而复杂化的分娩时采集的胎盘中，端粒长度明显缩短。在因胎盘功能不全而复杂化的持续妊娠中，从未报道过胎盘端粒长度的测量。这是我们研究的主要目的。
在我们中心，在闭经 18-37 周期间对 24 例严重宫内生长受限（病例）和 28 例其他产前诊断指征（对照）的患者进行了晚期绒毛膜绒毛取样。通过组织病理学检查评估胎盘功能不全。使用荧光肽核酸探针通过定量荧光原位杂交对来自长期培养绒毛的间期核进行端粒长度的相对测量，并使用自动荧光显微镜进行。通过定量聚合酶链反应技术对定量荧光原位杂交结果进行了验证。还通过荧光原位杂交技术对这些胎盘中编码 RNA 模板（hTERC）和酶复合物端粒酶的催化亚基（hTERT）的基因座的拷贝数进行了估计。
通过定量荧光原位杂交估计的端粒探针的平均荧光强度在病例组中明显低于对照组（p<0.001）。这一结果表明，在因胎盘功能不全而复杂化的持续妊娠中，胎盘中的平均端粒长度明显缩短。定量聚合酶链反应技术证实了端粒长度的缩短。在病例组或对照组中，未发现 hTERC 和 hTERT 基因座的拷贝数变异。
本研究清楚地表明，在因胎盘功能不全导致的严重宫内生长受限而复杂化的持续妊娠（闭经 18-37 周）中，胎盘端粒长度减少。
