Telkar Nikita, Hui Desmond, Peñaherrera Maria S, Yuan Victor, Martinez Victor D, Stewart Greg L, Beristain Alexander G, Lam Wan L, Robinson Wendy P
British Columbia Children's Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 4H4, Canada.
Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6H 3N1, Canada.
Sci Rep. 2025 Apr 26;15(1):14666. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-98939-4.
The human placenta is the composite of multiple cell types, each which contributes uniquely to placental function. Small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) are regulators of gene expression and can be cell-specific. The sncRNA transcriptome of individual placental cell types has not yet been investigated due to difficulties in their procurement and isolation. Using a custom sequencing method, we explored the expression of seven sncRNA species (miRNA, piRNA, rRNA, scaRNA, snRNA, snoRNA, tRNA) from whole chorionic villi and four major sample-matched FACS-sorted cell type (cytotrophoblast, stromal, endothelial, Hofbauer) samples from 9 first trimester and 17 term placentas. After normalization for technical variables, samples clustered primarily by cell type lineage. No sncRNAs were uniquely expressed by cell type, however, mean expression differed by cell type for 115 sncRNAs. Known placentally-expressed sncRNAs showed differing expression by cell type and trimester. Expression of few sncRNAs varied by sex. Lastly, sample-matched sncRNA expression and DNA methylation correlation was not significant, although high correlation (> R ± 0.6) was observed for some sncRNA-CpG pairs. This study represents the first exploration of the sncRNA transcriptome of bulk placental villi and placental cell types, informing about the expression and regulatory patterns underlying human placental development.
人胎盘是多种细胞类型的复合体，每种细胞类型对胎盘功能都有独特贡献。小非编码RNA（sncRNA）是基因表达的调节因子，且具有细胞特异性。由于获取和分离胎盘细胞类型存在困难，单个胎盘细胞类型的sncRNA转录组尚未得到研究。我们使用一种定制的测序方法，探索了来自9例孕早期胎盘和17例足月胎盘的全绒毛膜绒毛以及四种主要样本匹配的经荧光激活细胞分选术（FACS）分选的细胞类型（细胞滋养层细胞、基质细胞、内皮细胞、霍夫鲍尔细胞）样本中七种sncRNA种类（微小RNA、piwi相互作用RNA、核糖体RNA、小 Cajal 体特异性RNA、核小RNA、核仁小RNA、转运RNA）的表达情况。在对技术变量进行标准化后，样本主要按细胞类型谱系聚类。虽然没有sncRNA是某一细胞类型特有的，但有115种sncRNA的平均表达量因细胞类型而异。已知在胎盘中表达的sncRNA在不同细胞类型和孕期的表达情况不同。少数sncRNA的表达因性别而异。最后，尽管观察到某些sncRNA与CpG位点对之间存在高度相关性（> R ± 0.6），但样本匹配的sncRNA表达与DNA甲基化之间的相关性并不显著。这项研究首次探索了胎盘绒毛组织和胎盘细胞类型的sncRNA转录组，为人类胎盘发育的表达和调控模式提供了信息。
