Gene and protein expression in the myometrium in pregnancy and labor

Abstract

Microarray technologies widen our comprehension of the major structural and metabolic transformations which affect the myometrium from the very beginning of pregnancy until parturition. The results are coherent with the mass of information which was accumulated previously, primarily on the basis of studies of selected critical factors. They highlight the activation of precise signaling pathways, some of which may have been previously under evaluated. The remodelling and maturation processes that the myometrium undergoes in pregnancy appear clearly as phenomena which last during the full course of gestation. Comparatively, the onset of labor is perhaps the phenomenon which remains the least well described by these methods of analysis. Nevertheless, genomic studies constitute a necessary first step of orientation and help establishing new links between the generic signaling pathways that are activated during the normal or pathological gestation. These studies also represent an indicative step that will have to be paralleled, in the future, with the results of the systematic proteomic analysis of the myometrium.

Hypoxia-induced force increase (HIFI) is a novel mechanism underlying the strengthening of labor contractions, produced by hypoxic stresses

“…Myometrial genes and proteins are differentially expressed in pregnancy and labor (36)(37)(38). The question therefore arises: Is there evidence for changes in genes or proteins associated with the pathways we are implicating, beyond those addressed above?…”

299: Identification of a myometrial molecular profile for dystocic labor

“…High-throughput screening technologies, such as DNA microarrays have been used to improve comprehension of the major structural and metabolic transformations, which affect the myometrium from the very beginning of pregnancy until the onset of labor [18][19][20][21][22]. Changes in the structural and contractile genes associated with the actin cytoskeleton, focal adhesion molecules, adherens and tight junctions represent a large subset of genes that are over-expressed in pregnant, compared to non-pregnant, human myometrium [18].…”

“…High-throughput screening technologies, such as DNA microarrays have been used to improve comprehension of the major structural and metabolic transformations, which affect the myometrium from the very beginning of pregnancy until the onset of labor [18][19][20][21][22]. Changes in the structural and contractile genes associated with the actin cytoskeleton, focal adhesion molecules, adherens and tight junctions represent a large subset of genes that are over-expressed in pregnant, compared to non-pregnant, human myometrium [18]. Additionally, in an attempt to further decipher the causes of pre-term labor, a number of investigators have used transcriptomic approaches to examine the transition from uterine quiescence to the onset of contractions in small numbers of patients [18][19][20][21][22].…”

“…Changes in the structural and contractile genes associated with the actin cytoskeleton, focal adhesion molecules, adherens and tight junctions represent a large subset of genes that are over-expressed in pregnant, compared to non-pregnant, human myometrium [18]. Additionally, in an attempt to further decipher the causes of pre-term labor, a number of investigators have used transcriptomic approaches to examine the transition from uterine quiescence to the onset of contractions in small numbers of patients [18][19][20][21][22]. These studies identified a number of genes, which may be useful in predicting pre-term labor; however, none have specifically examined dystocia.…”

Do two mutually exclusive gene modules define the phenotypic diversity of mammalian smooth muscle?

“…This indicates a broad representation of datasets that contain signals from smooth muscle cells. Examples of time-course data include neointima formation time course (Li et al 2007), pathological samples from coronary artery (King et al 2005), or the pregnant uterus (Rehman et al 2003;Breuiller-Fouche and Germain 2006;Breuiller-Fouche et al 2007). One Wnal issue, which poses and interesting computational problem is that of heterogeneous tissue samples.…”