Department of Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.
PLoS One. 2013 Jul 31;8(7):e69848. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0069848. Print 2013.
Genome-wide transcription data of utero-placental tissue has been used to identify altered gene expression associated with preeclampsia (PE). As many women with PE deliver preterm, there is often a difference in gestational age between PE women and healthy pregnant controls. This may pose a potential bias since gestational age has been shown to dramatically influence gene expression in utero-placental tissue. By pooling data from three genome-wide transcription studies of the maternal-fetal interface, we have evaluated the relative effect of gestational age and PE on gene expression. A total of 18,180 transcripts were evaluated in 49 PE cases and 105 controls, with gestational age ranging from week 14 to 42. A total of 22 transcripts were associated with PE, whereas 92 transcripts with gestational age (nominal P value <1.51*10(-6), Bonferroni adjusted P value <0.05). Our results indicate that gestational age has a great influence on gene expression both in normal and PE-complicated pregnancies. This effect might introduce serious bias in data analyses and needs to be carefully assessed in future genome-wide transcription studies.
已经利用子宫胎盘组织的全基因组转录数据来鉴定与先兆子痫（PE）相关的基因表达改变。由于许多患有 PE 的女性都会早产，因此 PE 女性与健康孕妇对照组之间的胎龄通常存在差异。这可能会造成潜在的偏差，因为胎龄已经被证明会极大地影响子宫胎盘组织中的基因表达。通过汇集来自三个母体胎儿界面全基因组转录研究的数据，我们评估了胎龄和 PE 对基因表达的相对影响。在 49 例 PE 病例和 105 例对照中评估了总共 18,180 个转录本，胎龄范围从 14 周到 42 周。共有 22 个转录本与 PE 相关，而 92 个转录本与胎龄相关（名义 P 值<1.51*10(-6)，Bonferroni 调整后 P 值<0.05）。我们的结果表明，胎龄对正常和 PE 合并妊娠的基因表达都有很大影响。这种影响可能会在数据分析中引入严重的偏差，需要在未来的全基因组转录研究中仔细评估。
